Top 10 Mass Effect Series Characters

For as much as I gush about this series, you might be curious to know which of the grade-A cast of characters were my favorite.  This game had an amazing cast.  The voice work was nothing short of incredible.  I will harbor a deep hatred for how the series ended, but every single moment leading up to that was awesome.  I will say up-front that Shepard is not going to be on this list.  Shepard was a cool character, but the reality is that Shepard was the avatar for the player, and the amount of choices it gave you made that abundantly clear.  So, with all of that said, here is my list for the very best of this game’s characters.  If you see any who are not on this list, comment as to who your favorite are, and tell me why.  Let’s keep the market of ideas open.  And just so you know, if you’ve never played the series, you are going to be REALLY lost.  Here goes…

10. Urdnot Bakara/Eve
While Wrex was a fascinating character, along with Grunt being loads of fun, the Krogan that I most enjoyed talking to was the female who was rescued from Maelon’s experiments.  Not only is she not some weak female who needs to be protected, but she represents so much of the strength that the Krogan still possess.  Not only does she not let herself be coddled like Wrex wants to, but she is emotionally and mentally strong in ways that no other Krogan is.  Not even Wrex.  Not only that, but she fills in the blanks on a lot of Krogan culture.  Turns out, once upon a time, the women of the Krogan race held the power, and she wanted to return that.  She faces down an entire room of angry males who are looking for a fight, telling them that if they keep going as they are, they will just run themselves into the ground.  That kind of strength is just awesome, and I think it is so cool.  She is a brief character to get to know, but she is on this list all the same.

9. Aria T’Loak
It wasn’t until the Omega DLC for Mass Effect 3 that this character really made an impact with me.  Voiced by Carrie Ann Moss, this is more proof that so-so actors and actresses can do amazing voice-work.  This character is an Asari.  It is hinted that she is well-over 1000 years old.  But unlike most Asari, who cool down and get all wise and stuff at that age, she instead is running the most ruthless criminal haven in the entire galaxy.  And she rules with an iron fist.  As she says, there is only one rule, “don’t fuck with Aria.”  But beneath her badass bravado, there are hints of something far more tragic underneath Aria.  In the Omega DLC, you get some interesting back-story on this character.  You see that she wasn’t always the tough bitch that she works so hard to be.  She once had a protegee.  A Turian student who could use biotics.  When this student started learning to control their abilities, both the student and Aria got very close.  While nothing is ever explicitly said, it is pretty clear that they were in love.  The Turian says that leaving Aria was the hardest thing they had ever had to do.  This character is a lot deeper than it looks at first, and she has earned her place at #9.

8. Legion
While not the name that this character has by choice, this is still one of the most interesting characters of the game for a lot of reasons.  Legion is a unit of the actual Geth forces.  Not the heretics that everyone believed were the Geth for most of series.  Legion gives some amazing insight on the Geth culture, along with a rather ugly look at history.  The mission that puts you inside the Consensus is the reason that I have absolutely NO sympathy for the Quarians and their struggle against them.  My favorite interaction with Legion is aboard the Heretic central ship.  When Shepard points out that judging a mechanical race like organics isn’t the same, so it shouldn’t be done, Legion agrees.  He says something that I think is one of the most profound things in this game – that treating every single species like your own is racist.  It’s altruistic, but still racism.  All alien races must be judged individually, and treated accordingly.  Legion was a fascinating look into a race that was very secretive, and made for a great friend who was hard to lose.

7. Jack/Subject Zero
A lot like Aria, this is a character who I like more as the layers get peeled away.  Raised in an unbelievably cruel Cerberus facility, Jack was forced to have a love of carnage from an early age.  The people there did all sorts of inhumane tests on her to make her the most powerful biotic that humanity could create.  Mission accomplished.  Unfortunately, all the power backfired on them.  Jack broke out of the facility, killing almost every single person there in the process.  Afterwards, she wandered the galaxy, doing unspeakable atrocities.  Yet, beneath the side of her that seems to almost obsess about killing, Jack has a far more vulnerable side.  She is afraid of getting hurt, trusting others and doesn’t let people get close.  But as you work with her, she begins to turn around.  In Mass Effect 3, if she survived the Suicide Mission, you see that side of her in action.  She becomes a teacher of special biotic students at Grissom Academy.  She sees these students as her family, and protects them with everything she has.  And she becomes a good friend, grudgingly acknowledging that she respected Shepard and was glad to be a part of the crew of the Normandy.  The right kind of psychotic in every way.

6. Admiral Steven Hackett
Jacob says something that sums up my thoughts about this guy, “If they make old guys any tougher than that, I’d like to see it.”  That’s about all one can say.  Hackett is the quintessential soldier.  War is his resume, and he knows that he is the best.  But like all great commanders, he is not egotistical.  He is reserved, quiet and contemplative.  He keeps his cool, even when the entire galaxy is looking to fall apart, because he knows that his men and women under his command are counting on him.  This character is a great leader, perceptive and that voice of his is just so convincing.  The moment he talks, I am certain that this man is in command.  It’s an awesome character, who never lets up even unto the very end.  He knows that there may be no hope, but he won’t rest until he has exhausted all possible options.  That is the kind of person that I want to lead me into battle.  Another reason that I love this character is because of something you learn in the Lair of the Shadow Broker mission.  You learn that the Alliance was hoping to be able to take Shepard in, and depending on if Shepard cooperated or not, they would be none too kind to him/her.  When they ask for permission, without missing a beat, Hackett just denies them.  He stood by Shepard, no matter what.  I like that.

5. The Illusive Man
Here is a character who I am going to have some disagreement with people with.  I personally don’t think that he was always evil the way he was in Mass Effect 3.  I’m with Joker in thinking that once upon a time, Cerberus existed to further humanities interests and fight the battles the regular military and the Council refused to.  Sure, their methods were extreme, but there was a greater good.  In the mission reports, you saw that he was planning to fight the Reapers.  He kept a careful eye on potential problems and potential benefits in an anticipated war with them.  What happened with the Illusive Man was that he got too close to his enemy.  He became Indoctrinated.  But when he first started, despite his cruel methods, he did have an admirable goal.  With Martin Sheen providing the voice, this character had both charm, class and was likeable.  I may have disagreed with his methods, but we both wanted the same thing – to save the galaxy.  This character has a dark past, but I still enjoyed my time talking to him.  If only things hadn’t gone the way they did.  I figure that in a battle with the Reapers, this guy could have made for an invaluable ally.

4. Jeff “Joker” Moreau
Picking Seth Green for this voice was absolutely perfect.  He brings some of his comedic charm to this role.  Being the smart-ass pilot, Joker starts out a little bit cold.  But he warms up to Shepard and brings his unusual perspective to the game, with a nice touch of a kind of his cruel side to point out what needs to be examined.  But you do see that underneath his sarcasm, this character is profoundly motivated.  Some of the talks that you have with Joker in ME3 are among the best segments in the game.  The bit after the Fall of Thessia is my personal favorite.  Joker is not only a great pilot, but a rarely honest voice in a game where half the fun is picking through people’s bullshit.  And he is at this spot for a reason.

3. Liara T’Soni
Maybe it’s just because I pursued romantic interest with this character as much as I did, but I still think that this is one of the most developed characters in the game.  When you first meet her, she is a scared student who had never seen actual war before.  But over time, she hardens up.  She becomes a powerful information broker.  And if you were smart and did the Lair of the Shadow Broker mission, she becomes a DAMN good Shadow Broker.  By the end, she can stand among the best of them as a soldier.  Liara becomes a hell of an ally.  The only real pity in this game is that it doesn’t feel like the relationship truly evolves if you pursue her romantically.  Especially if you had been since ME1.  By the third game, her and Shepard should have been very close, maybe even living together.  With the galaxy going to shit, having someone you love close by seems like an obvious thing to do.  My favorite moment is watching her as she is losing her home, and the despair filling her.  Yet she resolves to do better.  An awesome character, and one that I always wanted.

2. Mordin Solus
A former member of the Salarian Special Tasks Group (STG), this man had a lot of emotional baggage when you first met him.  Being not only a damn good soldier, Mordin had a secret.  The Genophage, a pathogen that had destroyed Krogan culture, was modified by him, when it was discovered that it wasn’t as effective as it used to be.  He did as he was instructed, and while he holds that it was the right thing to do, you also find out that he kept with the project after it was done.  He would yearly make visits, to see how things were going.  Seeing the results of his actions, the decay of Krogan culture, it changed him.  He got out of the military life, opting to find a way to help the people who didn’t have options.  He found that on Omega.  But in ME3, he gets a chance at redemption and to get personal closure.  I loved Mordin because of his outlook on life.  Given the short lives of Salarians, many of them choose to believe that their lives are not singular.  Mordin’s talks about his own spiritual side were my favorite segment of ME2.  The fact that he is getting old and his views on making the most of what’s left of his life.  An profound character, with an interesting back-story.  Not to mention that in the Citadel DLC, you learn that not only did he do business with Aria, he had sex with her and then beat her at her own game.  That’s just awesome.

And my favorite character from the Mass Effect series is -

1. Garrus Vakarian
Garrus’ sexy voice is one of the reasons that I was always female Shepard.  The other reason was that I like Jennifer Hale’s voice work better.  But yeah, of all the characters on this list, Garrus is the one that I think went through the most change.  He starts off as a disgruntled and disillusioned member of C-Sec.  He joins up with Shepard, seeing that Shepard can get things done.  After stopping Saren and Sovereign, he becomes the leader of a mercenary gang on Omega, dealing with criminals in a more direct fashion.  You see his violent side, but also the side of him that wishes to do good.  Then, in the third game, you see Garrus pushed to his limits, trying to hold it together while not only the galaxy goes to shit, but so does his home.  Garrus is a soldier.  Nothing keeps him down.  He will fight until there is absolutely nothing left of him, and then keep going.  The strongest member of your crew, by far, he makes for an awesome ally and I chose to believe an amazing lover.  Oh yeah, he is sexy as hell.  I could do horribly naughty things to that voice of his.  But I digress.  Strong, sure, savvy, funny and never backing down from a fight, he is my favorite character in this amazing series.

So, who are your favorites?  Comment and tell me why.  Keep the discussion going.  It’s an open forum of ideas.

Until next time, a quote,

“I tend to expect the worst anyway, so dreaming about it seems like a waste of good sleep.”  -Garrus Vakarian

Peace out,

Maverick

Top 10 Video Game Trailers

I haven’t done a post like this in a LONG time, and I was feeling the urge to do so.  Now, if you’re wondering why I am not doing movie trailers, well, that’s because there aren’t all that many good ones.  There are some really cool ones, but not that many that have stuck with me.  Game trailers, on the other hand, some of these have been just awesome!  Now, before we get into this, let me say that the trailers on this list don’t necessarily correlate with the quality of the game.  A couple on this list are games that I cannot stand, or am totally bored by, but was totally hyped because of the trailer I saw.  Also, since I know that this list is going to be 100% my opinion, and some of you will vehemently disagree, tell me what your favorite trailers are.  Post links.  I want to know.  Anyway, enough house-keeping.  Let’s get to this.

10. Batman: Arkham City
Riddler Trailer
I don’t know how many of you I ever told this to, but one of my favorite villains are a kid was The Riddler.  I always loved how this guy was so smart, so cunning, so crafty.  If it weren’t for the fact that he has to give Batman clues, because of his own psychological pathology, this guy could have killed Batman 10 times over!  And this trailer was so good at making this character feel both intimidating and smart.  I love how you actually see very little.  It merely shows you brief bits of schematics, some neat Riddler question marks, and a couple shots of the hero.  And while you are seeing this, the voice of the Riddler talks about how inferior you are, and how certain your death is.  But not in that cartoon-y way, where you laugh at it.  It feels intimidating.  I love this trailer, and the only real pity is that the Riddler in the actual game wasn’t as cool as the trailer made him out to be.

9. Halo 3
Reveal Trailer
The reason that I like this trailer is because it doesn’t treat Master Chief like a total badass.  Something that most people don’t know is that I wasn’t all that much of a fan of the Halo series.  Not until Halo 4, that is.  That game did what I thought this trailer was showing – took some of the emotional armor off the Chief, making him more of a human being.  The whole “White Knight” aspect of most gaming heroes never really interested me all that much.  Sure, a guy can kill a lot of people or aliens, but I don’t just want to embrace the killing.  Let me get to know this character.  I want to understand their motivations.  What got them there?  Why do they fight as hard as they do?  These are great questions to ask.  And when I saw this trailer for Halo 3, that’s what I thought it was going to be.  You see the Chief as a boy, and he is like a normal kid.  Then, it abruptly cuts to him in the future.  He’s outnumbered, outgunned and looks to be in real trouble.  He uses a shield grenade to give himself cover, desperately trying to survive.  That is what I wanted to see from this game, and sadly, the actual package did NOT deliver.  It was a pretty mediocre game, if you ask me.  But yeah, I still do love this trailer, and always will.

8. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Reveal Trailer
Man, talk about ANOTHER game whose trailer over-promised, and the actual game under-delivered.  This trailer hooked me from the moment I saw it.  When I saw this, I was thinking that this game would actually be looking at the idea of another World War.  That some of the missions would be incredibly long, and we would actually be a part of this, from all sorts of angles.  Meanwhile, the heroes from the last game would be putting the pieces together, trying to make it all stop.  Expectations for this game were high.  And, sadly, I couldn’t have been more disappointed.  Most people, when I saw this, hit me back with the fact that these games are made for the multiplayer.  And while that’s true, the reality is that there is NO excuse in this day and age why a game can’t have good single player AND multiplayer.  Halo 4 proved that this was possible, by leaps and bounds.  I won’t lie, the Call of Duty franchise has never interested me all that much.  But Modern Warfare 2 was an awesome game, mixing some incredibly cool characters, along with genuine tension.  This game, unfortunately, fails.  A pity, too, because it could have been great.

7. Mass Effect 3
“Take Earth Back” trailer
Man, when it comes to setting up a conflict and putting the stakes firmly in your mind, no game did this better than Mass Effect 3.  And save for the god-awful third act (the shitty ending, the lack of being able to see your war assets in play and the total loss of narrative coherence), this game delivered.  But the coolest thing about this trailer is that you see the human side of things.  And I’m not talking about it just showing people.  I’m not The Illusive Man here.  I mean the side of the the story that shows you who is being affected.  It’s not easy to make something feel global, and make it into a disaster film.  But with a story like Mass Effect, you have free reign to make it feel big, because the stories of these games have been big.  And this trailer makes you enjoy every moment of it.  From the little girl who is shown at the beginning, you see humanity and its totally overwhelming battle against an enemy who feels nothing and cares even less.  It’s totally gripping, and worth every minute.

6. Alice: Madness Returns
Teaser Trailer
If one is looking for a trailer to represent what the game is actually about, you can’t get much better than this.  This trailer is nuts.  This game is nuts.  Sanity really has no place in anything having to do with it.  I especially love the use of color in this trailer.  It begins so peaceful, with lots of soft and gentle colors.  It makes the world feel so much more inviting.  You actually want to be a part of it.  A credit to a well-done trailer.  Never has madness looked so cool.

5. Final Fantasy Versus XIII
Premier Trailer
Final Fantasy XIII burned us.  All of us.  We were horribly burned by what a complete mess it was.  The linear gameplay, the storyline that made your head hurt, so many things were wrong with it.  The only selling point it had was on the cool factor of some of its characters.  But they milked that well dry too.  Then, a few months later, we saw this trailer.  The moment that my friends and I saw this trailer, we all were captivated.  This game looked 110% different from the absolute joke that XIII was.  It was even in the title that this game was nothing like that!  It looked dark, realistic, but fantastical enough for us to get into it.  This game trailer was so cool that we were ready to give our money right then and there!  And yet, the wait continued.  And it continued.  And it continued.  And seven years later, we are STILL waiting.  Most of my friends who were so hyped have moved on.  I am going to be moving on soon.  It’s kind of like Kingdom Hearts III.  Both of these games should have been out by now.  But they’re not.  And so, we’re left sad and alone.  But there is still this trailer, and it looks amazing.  Such a pity that it didn’t come with more.

4. Metro: Last Light
E3 2012 “Enter the Metro” Trailer
There are some trailers in games that are so good that it almost transcends that boundaries of a trailer.  Trailers that dazzle your eyes and amaze your soul.  This is one of them.  This trailer is so good that it almost should have been its own movie.  Part of me almost wishes it was.  This is a live-action trailer, and it is so incredibly intense.  Without a single subtitle, you are just seeing the Russian panic as a nuclear war looms.  You don’t know what they’re saying.  You don’t have to.  The sheer terror on their faces and the desperation to go to the one safe-zone is enough.  This trailer is absolutely breath-taking.  It could have been a short film, because it really does work like one.  You have the people running for shelter, the guards having to eventually stop them from coming in, and it ends with a mother desperately trying to get her baby inside.  The guard takes the baby, shuts the door, and you see him disappear into the darkness, as she cries outside.  Then, you have what is believed to have been that baby, all grown-up, reappearing to see the destroyed city.  No sound, except for the song that his mother was humming to him.  This is an amazing trailer, and worth every minute of time you spend watching it.

3. Assassin’s Creed
Almost every trailer they have ever done
I know this is cheating, but I’m sorry, I simply could not pick.  This franchise has a knack for having some breath-taking and awesome trailers that you absolutely cannot stop thinking about.  What makes them even cooler is that these trailers are all made from excellent graphics, but the elements in them are taken right from the game.  What you see in awesome fidelity, you can often do.  It is so cool!  So, without absolutely gushing about all of them, I will simply have links to all the ones that stuck in my mind in parentheses, and you can see the awesomeness for yourself.  (Assassin’s Creed, Assassin’s Creed II, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, Assassin’s Creed III, Assassin’s Creed IV)

2. Dead Island
Official Announcement Trailer
Talk about a bait-and-switch.  This trailer looked amazing.  It told a unique and profoundly sad story about a family who came to a tropical island, looking to get away from their problems.  Instead, they are caught in a hellish nightmare with the living dead, and from the looks of things, it kills them.  This trailer is painful, beautiful, tragic, memorable.  It put the players’ expectations so high for what this game was going to be.  We were anticipating a survival-horror experience, with a deep emotional connection.  And what did we get?  Well, we got a game with a boring story, god-awful and borderline-racist stereotypes and gameplay that was clumsy and awkward.  This game had SO much potential, and it wasted every single bit of it.  This was such a disappointment.  But still, this trailer is amazing.  It’s tragic, beautiful, touching and oddly comforting, despite what we are seeing.  A bummer that the final product couldn’t be the same.

And the best game trailer, to me, is…

1. Bioshock 2
“Sea of Dreams” trailer
If there is a trailer that is more cryptic but engaging, I have yet to see it.  This trailer told us just about nothing.  For real, you learn nothing about the game.  But who cares?!  The amazing design, the soft music that is both comforting and off-putting, along with image of a young woman who is holding one of the Big Daddy dolls, with her mind apparently making the sand move.  All of these elements make us just want to dive right back in to Rapture.  What is this girl’s story?  It’s a safe assumption that she’s a Little Sister all grown up.  Does she miss Rapture?  Why does she have psychic powers?  Again, we never learn anything, but not one person cared.  This trailer will probably stick with me until I am dead, but it is so cool all the same, and took me right back to the underwater nightmare.

So that’s my list.  Again, if you disagree, hit me back.  Have a link with it.  I want to know.  Because there are a lot more great trailers, and new perspective helps.

Until next time, a quote,

“When all this is over, an’ we’re divvyin’ up Rapture’s bounty, you an’ I will be holdin’ court on a private island, son. Think of it – each world power on bended knee, holding a bouquet made o’ money!”  -Augustus Sinclair, Bioshock 2

Peace out,

Maverick

Top 10 Most Anticipated Films of 2013

A couple of people approached me after I came out with my Top 10 Most Anticipated Games list (Link here), and asked what my biggest anticipated movies are (which hopefully we can see some trailers of during the Super Bowl).  That seemed like a fair request, and even though it is a little late, here is my list.

10. Red 2
Red was a hilarious action movie.  When I first saw previews for it, I had no idea what to expect.  I mean, it starred John Malkovich, Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman and Helen Mirren.  Nobody knew what to expect.  It was a movie that almost came out of nowhere, and delighted audiences everywhere.  When they announced a sequel…I am skeptical.  I really hope they don’t ruin this franchise.  It’s not even a franchise yet, and I hope they don’t ruin it.  The image of this film is great.  So yeah, I am skeptical.

9. Riddick
Pitch Black was an awesome movie.  It had a neat character, a metric ton of suspense and some really cool action scenes.  It was proof that Vin Diesel can actually, you know, act.  Outside of just being a badass.  Riddick was a character who actually had a lot of character.  Then, there was Chronicles of Riddick.  That movie sucked.  Straight-up sucked.  It was an overblown action movie that took itself WAY too seriously.  Not to mention, they tried to make Riddick some kind of savior character, which doesn’t fit him at all.  They have promised to go back to formula with this film, keeping it a dark action film, not some epic savior movie, but I am very skeptical.  That said, if they are able to do it, I am more than a little excited to see it.

8. The Wolf of Wall Street.
First thing it has done right – this is a Martin Scorcese film.  I have yet to see this man go totally wrong.  He seems to get more and more talented with age.  Second thing it has done right – it is starring Leonardo DiCaprio.  For the last decade, this man has come into his own as an actor, and brilliantly, too.  Every movie I see with him in it just gets better and better.  Last year, it was Django Unchained.  Before that, Inception.  Before that, The Departed.  This man has really shown his chops, and I cannot wait to see what’s next in this film.

7. The Monuments Men
One of my favorite movies is Good Night and Good Luck.  It is directed by George Clooney, who has a very keen eye for history.  Not to mention old style cinematography.  This man is not only a great actor, but he is also a great filmmaker.  With that said, this is another project by Clooney.  This time, it is about a group of art historians who ran into Germany after the fall of the Nazis to reclaim stolen art pieces.  I don’t know what exactly to expect from this movie, but given the skill of the person making it, I have high hopes.  Here is one that I’m not skeptical about.  Regardless, I know that I will get a good film.

6. Sin City: A Dame to Kill For
The original Sin City was about as close to an amazing comic coming to life as it has ever been.  The cinematography was absolutely gorgeous.  The characters, stories and world it was set in were amazing.  I loved every minute of the original film.  That said, I am excited to see what the sequel will bring.  It brings back several members of the original cast (which is good), along with introducing a few new faces.  Expectations for this movie are sky-high, but I have a feeling that it will deliver.

5. Gravity
I don’t honestly know what expect from this movie.  It is made by the same man who made Children of Men.  This guy is a brilliant filmmaker, with a flare of the REALLY tragic.  What has been revealed thus far is that this is a film about a sole astronaut, above the Earth.  Some sort of calamity has taken place, and now she is on her own.  A lot like most of the films on this list, I don’t know what to expect, but given the excellence that this filmmaker has had before, I think I am going to be pleasantly surprised.

4. Iron Man 3
This is a pairing of Robert Downy Jr. and Shane Black.  For real, I could just end it there, and that would be all that needs to be said.  The third of the Iron Man films, it definitely looks to get into darker territory.  Following The Avengers, something that Stark saw in space disturbed him, and now he is having personal dilemmas.  However, there is now a new villain, played by Ben Kingsley, who has it out to not only destroy Iron Man, but Tony Stark as well.  I love me some dark superhero movies.  The whole idea of a superhero is some dark stuff, if you really think about it.  And the previews for this movie have set the bar as high as it can go.  I definitely hope it delivers.

3. Star Trek: Into Darkness
I have only one thing to say – Benedict Cumberbatch as the villain.  For real, I could end it there.  This man has shown his chops, and seeing him as a villain just looks amazing.  Who his character is has been the topic of huge amounts of debate, but one thing is certain – this looks awesome.  It is a lot darker than the original, and as I have said before, I likes me some dark.  You see a much more vulnerable side to Kirk, which hopefully is handled well.  But they got everybody back for this party.  Once-again, we have Sylar as Spock.  Nerdy smile moment.  Yeah, lots to be excited about.

2. Evangelion 3.0: You Can (Not) Redo
Say that this doesn’t count, because it already came out in Japan if you must, but I call bullshit on that!  It hasn’t come out here in America, and I am SO psyched to see this movie!  Neon Genesis Evangelion is one of the most famous of the mecha-anime series’s.  So many people love every minute of it.  It is a science fiction telling of the biblical apocalypse.  The original series was thought-provoking, visually enriching and narratively fulfilling…until the last third.  Two-thirds of the way of the way through the series, they ran out of money, and didn’t know what to do next.  So, they devolved into a pseudo-intellectual psychological exploration.  And…it got old, really fast.  So, over a decade later, Funimation comes along and wants to remake it, to appeal to all demographics.  They decide to do this with a series of full-length movies, rather than a TV series.  This will be the third of those movies.  The first two are amazing.  Awesome visuals, the same level of dense characters, along with some new looks and new characters who make this so much better.  I love these movies, and I am certain that I will love this one too.

And the movie I want to see most this year is…

1. Elysium
While it did get a little heavy-handed in the third act with its message, I still am absolutely in love with District 9.  Neil Blomkamp looks to continue that kind of filmmaking in this movie.  Telling the story of an Earth in the not too distant future, the wealthy have made a giant space colony and left, leaving the rest of us to rot and die.  Violent, dark and probably very gruesome, there is a lot to look forward to for this movie.

So yeah, not the longest list in the world, but in case any of you wanted to know.

Until next time, a quote,

“Is it better for a man to have chosen evil than to have good imposed upon him?”  -Anthony Burgess

Peace out,

Maverick

Top 10 Video Game Fallen Angels

It is an overused saying, but – the bigger they are, the harder they fall.  And none have fallen quite so far as these franchises.  These franchises used to be the ones who broke rules, set trends, and who all the game developers wanted to mimic.  Some franchises have narrowly avoided this list, like Tomb Raider, with the upcoming and very well-anticipated reboot, along with Devil May Cry, which was on its way to this location because the developer of the game clearly lost their vision.  But the games on this list fell so far, so fast, and it truly is a pity, because they could have had a very bright future, if only in the hands of more ambitious developers.  This list is paying homage to the franchises many of us grew up with, and ended up being hurt by, or just completely forgot.

10. Banjo Kazooie
This was a franchise that didn’t even get a chance to truly grow its own identity before it fell apart.  Anybody who grew up with the N64 knows about this game.  Banjo Kazooie was a Very peculiar puzzle platformer, and it was loads of fun.  With strange characters, strange locales that you couldn’t help but want to explore, and a very odd story, its biggest hook was how strange it was, and it was a good gimmick to have.  Then it’s only game in the HD era came along – Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts.  And this game was awful!  The new look, the new direction that robbed this franchise of so much of what made it unique.  Now, a lot of these kinds of games suffered in the HD generation.  It’s like developers thought that they had to make every game a wondrous visual marvel.  Unfortunately, they never learned that that isn’t the case, and this franchise died before it even had a chance to spread its wings.  The absurd does have a place in the HD generation, and it kills me that so many franchises never realized that.

9. Star Fox
I know that I’m going to catch some heat for this, but let’s all be honest – this franchise has gotten more than a little stale.  Star Fox 64 was one of the best flight combat simulator games there is.  It had a lot of different and interesting places, different kinds of vehicle combat, cool missions and a unique system that allowed players to find alternate paths through the game, including one with a true ending.  It was a great game, that gave so many gamers hours of enjoyment going through each path, and finding the clever ways to other paths.  You also got to replay to better your kill count and score.  This game was so much fun.  Then, Star Fox Adventures came out of the Gamecube, and this was an uninteresting and uninspired bore.  They tried to go back to formula with Star Fox Assault, and while it wasn’t as much of a waste as its predecessor, it was far too short, and there were no branching paths or neat discoveries to make.  The franchise saw nothing in the Wii, and hopefully it can bounce back with the Wii U.  If not, this could be the end of Fox’s time in the limelight.

8. Resident Evil
I don’t think that any franchise has fallen as hard or as fast as Resident Evil.  The only reason it isn’t higher on this list is because I don’t hate 5 and 6 as much as some people do.  But I do recognize how it is failing.  Resident Evil 4 brought it back from the brink of being on this list a lot sooner.  That game showed that Resident Evil could hold its ground in the new age, and very well too.  It spawned the over-the-shoulder view system.  This was a trend-setter game for tons of games that would follow.  But then Resident Evil 5 came along, and it threw a wrench in the gears of all the potential the series had been given back.  With almost no horror elements, this was most certainly an action game.  And while it was a stylish action game, it wasn’t Resident Evil, and the fans knew it.  Divisions grew among the fans, and things were looking to get ugly.  Resident Evil 6 has continued the division of the fans.  Now, it should be noted that this is not a bad game.  Neither was 5.  But they are not survival horror games.  They are action games.  Ironically, the closest that 6 came to feeling like a survival horror game was with the Ada Wong story.  This franchise needs help, and unfortunately, doesn’t look to be getting any.  Which is a real shame.

7. Earthworm Jim
Anybody who remembers the Sega Genesis knows this franchise.  The stylish design and the odd weapons, bosses, controls and worlds just made this franchise what it was.  It was another of the absurd platformers, and it took advantage of every minute of it.  The backgrounds were hand-drawn, and they looked amazing.  Sadly, this franchise died a VERY quick death in the growth of 3D games, much like the franchise at the top of this list.  The biggest tragedy of all is that Earthworm Jim should be surviving, and very well, too.  In the HD generation, what they could do with the environments and platforming is just awesome, and it kills me that they haven’t brought this franchise back from the grave.  Rayman was able to get an awesome new game that brought its franchise back from the grave, and so should this one.  Hopefully, we see more of this worm and his power suit again.

6. Splinter Cell
Now, I don’t know how many of you know this, but I LOVE me some stealth games.  For real, the stealth genre is another one that hasn’t gotten its fair share of love in a very long time.  Granted, there are games that excel at it, like Batman: Arkham City or Mark of the Ninja, but this franchise used to mark the high point in stealth gaming.  You had to use the main character’s acrobatic skill to stick to the shadows, stalk patrols and get in close for the kill.  It was loads of fun, and then the most recent sequel has come out.  Conviction was an action game.  And the game that is coming up next is even moreso.  Not to mention that the main character isn’t played by Michael Ironside, which was one of the reasons that we thought that Fischer was so cool.  This is another franchise that has gone the route of Resident Evil and become an action series, which is a real shame, because the stealth aspects in previous games were among the best that have ever been.  Sadly, it is looking more and more like this franchise won’t go back to its very clever roots.

5. Prince of Persia
This is a franchise that I think lost its way.  Part of that is due to how popular it became.  Sands of Time is one of the best puzzle games that has ever been made.  Warrior Within was a bit of a stumble, but not much.  The Two Thrones was also a bit of a stumble, but still very fun.  However, the reimagined game Prince of Persia, and the god-awful film made from the original game totally botched the image of what this game stood for – deep combat, clever puzzles, and using powers to your advantage.  The worst offense was in the reboot, where it was almost impossible to die.  There was no incentive to think strategically about your actions, because you were pretty sure that you were going to come back.  Not to mention the REALLY bad sequel-bait ending that this game had.  But this franchise has stared down this abyss before, and come out swinging, so who knows what the future has in store for the Prince.

4. Fable
This series, to me, is a lot like M. Night Shyamalan’s career.  It was built up so far, so fast, that people didn’t stop to think about if the praise we were giving it was earned or not.  Fable was an awesome game.  The idea of morality in a game was new, fun, and it made trying new things and replays so much more interesting.  That’s not to say that this game didn’t have its problems.  The final boss battle was kind of sad.  But, aside from that, it was a very solid game, with a unique style and finesse.  Fable II definitely was a step backwards.  The magic was over-powered.  The navigation system was kind of annoying.  The final boss battle was non-existent, and totally anti-climactic.  But, all that aside, it was also a solid game.  We were underwhelmed, but we still did like the final product.  Then came Fable III.  This game was a disaster.  It was an uncooked dough that had the potential to be something amazing.  So many players were sold on the idea of fighting against a corrupt king, taking over his nation, and leading it.  That does have a lot of potential.  And the game looks amazing.  But that’s where the good things end.  The rest of this game was such a complete mess that it has driven more than one nail into this series’s coffin.  Fable is dying, fast.  Just like Shyamalan’s career.

3. Silent Hill
Much like Resident Evil, this is a franchise that fell very hard, very fast.  The original 3 Silent Hill games were all survival horror masterpieces with a dark and foreboding world, stories that were thematically and narratively dense and characters who were being tortured by their own subconscious’s.  Then the series hit a hiccup with Silent Hill 4, which stressed really awkward combat along with painstakingly brutal inventory management.  There were a string of lackluster spinoff games, and then came Silent Hill 5.  The boring plot, unimaginative environments and awful controls doomed this game.  Downpour was hoping to bring it back, but it only made the problems worse.  This franchise used to be the metric that other survival horror games stood up to.  Now, it’s a sad reminder of the fact that the survival horror genre is on life support.  The only thing that players fear about the next games is that they are going to be worse than the last.

2. Final Fantasy
Square Enix really needs to get their shit together with this franchise, or it will soon be dead.  Once the undisputed King of RPG games, Final Fantasy was the chief contender all the way up to XII.  Some argue that XII was the first step in the wrong direction, and there is an argument to be made, but that game still had its moments, and it wasn’t nearly the catastrophe that XIII was.  XIII burned fans with completely linear gameplay, a story that never seemed to be going anywhere, and having these incredibly beautiful environments that we couldn’t explore.  After that, there was XIV, which was a massive commercial failure.  XIII-2 was a complete dud, and it has come to light that ANOTHER sequel to XIII is being made, which is so obviously a cash-in.  Meanwhile, the game that all the franchise lovers are waiting for, Versus XIII, has heard hardly anything about it, with Square swearing up and down that it isn’t vaporware or cancelled.  This franchise needs help, and it is going to fall apart if, as I said above, Square Enix doesn’t get their shit together.

But of all the franchises on this list, none has fallen farther or faster than this one -

1. Sonic the Hedgehog
I grew up with this character.  I loved these games.  Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles were among my favorite games growing up.  For so long, Sonic lead the charge against the Nintendo powerhouse.  Sonic games were almost as popular as Mario games.  But, like Earthworm Jim, he did NOT transition well into 3D.  Some of the games in this lineup have been so bad that they are amazing.  Sonic the Hedgehog of 2006 takes the cake, with the main character falling in love with a human, and spending a large portion of the game talking to people.  It was not only boring, it was hilariously bad, with a story that was so forced and contrived that it made the rest of us cringe.  That’s not to say that all Sonic games in 3D have been bad.  Sonic Generations was a step in the right direction, combining the best of both worlds (2D and 3D).  But some of the games associated with this character are beyond jokes.  From all the pointless racing games, the Sonic vs. Mario games, and by far the absolute worst – Sonic Free Riders.  This is a character who has fallen so hard from grace, and it amazes me how loyal his fans can still be.  We were all swindled, guys.  Let’s accept it.

Until next time, a quote,

“The higher a video game franchise climbs, the farther it has to fall.”  -GT Countdown

Peace out,

Maverick

Top 10 Winter Worlds in Video Games

Well, it is that time of year when the white stuff is on the ground.  Sure, it can make the roads a great big pain the ass to drive on, but at the same time, it is true that the winter can be beautiful, and snow can be beautiful when it falls.  And nowhere else is the beauty of winter captured quite as well as in video games, where they have free reign to make it as different as they can.  Here is my personal list of the top 10 worlds where winter is nothing short of a wonderland.

10. Flanoir
Tales of Symphonia
Something about this place is just so peaceful to me.  If I were big into small town living, this would be the kind of town that I would want to frequent.  In the world of Tethe’alla, this little place is constantly cold due to the Spirit called Celsius who lives nearby.  This town is also host to be a brilliant doctor who robs you blind.  Old prick.  But yeah, it is peaceful, it is quiet.  It is a place where one can just chill and relax in a winter wonderland.  What more does one need?

9. Ice Cap Zone
Sonic the Hedgehog 3
Back in the day, when Sonic games were actually cool, instead of getting perpetually worse, this was the winter world that just wowed.  From the moment you start, you are on a snowboard, cutting it down a mountain, and then you are racing through a winter world that is populated by dangerous penguins, iceberg surfing, and for its time, some pretty intricate backgrounds.  This was definitely Sonic at his best, and it shows.  It’s kind of a pity that this character couldn’t make the transition into 3D with as much style.

8. Frappe Snowland
Mario Kart 64
Of all the Mario Kart games that have been made, arguably the best is Mario Kart 64.  It is a game that so many others tried and failed to improve on.  It’s like Nintendo didn’t get the memo that the format they already had worked, and you shouldn’t improve on something that isn’t broken.  The controls were simple, the worlds were fun, and the elements were neat.  And in this game, this was my favorite of the two winter tracks.  It was just so mellow and calm.  I like how it was just a nice little track to feel good on, unlike the other one with the annoying-as-fuck penguins.  Sure, it was a race, and you wanted to win, but this track just felt a lot calmer and generally more pleasant than the other.  Disagree all you want, but that’s my pick.

7. The Winter Region
Halo: Combat Evolved
When you are playing Halo for the first time, it is pretty cool how this ring world has so many various places.  But none are so intense as the winter area in the first game.  Some of the game’s most intense moments come from this part of their world.  The realization of what the Halo is.  When Cortana tells you to run and stop the Flood from being released.  This is some cool stuff.  And it looks pretty awesome too.  For its time, this was impressive stuff, pushing the limits of the original Xbox.  This was a cool place, and I am hoping to see more of it in the series to come.

6. Phendrana Drifts
Metroid Prime
This was, by far, the best part of this game.  The Phendrana Drifts has everything.  There is the original very peaceful winter scene that you start into.  There is the mystical temples of the Chozo, where you get a new weapon and learn more about their culture.  There is the intense and pulse-pounding Space Pirate base, and then there is the section in the back where the pirates were trying to set up a network inside of this winter world.  Probably my favorite part of this region is there, with all of the neat ways that they integrate Pirate technology and the winter landscape.  This was a cool place, and exploring it was a lot of fun.  Plus, there was a very epic final boss battle here.  What more do you need?

5. Shadow Moses
Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes
Shadow Moses comes into multiple Metal Gear Solid games.  The one that we will be looking at, for this post, is the one in Twin Snakes, which is the Gamecube remake of Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2.  This is a very imposing place.  The cold military nature of it is daunting enough, but there are doors that can’t be opened, security cameras, security guards everywhere, and in some games, Metal Gear monsters keeping an eye on things.  This is a place where one has to watch their back, and for a very good reason.  But at the same time, it is also still pretty cool.  The places where the boss fights happen are some of the best in any game.  The final battle with Vulcan Raven is just awesome.  And the fight with Sniper Wolf is also pretty fun.  This was a great game, and the setting was just awesome.

4. Click Clock Wood
Banjo Kazooie
Of all the worlds in this game, this was the one where I had the most fun.  Click Clock Wood has you go through all of its seasons, and each one has some unique properties associated with it.  I had a lot of fun with the winter version, though I will admit that the fall one was my favorite.  But winter still has a lot to offer.  A lot like Flanoir, this is the kind of place where I could just see myself chilling.  Especially around the humongous tree that makes up the bulk of this place.  It is kind of a pity that this series has gone downhill so fast, because I would have loved to see some of this kind of world in HD.  There was a lot of fun to be had here, and it is a pity that I wasn’t able to go back.  Though a LOT of these kind of games suffered in the High Def generation, which is a real pity.

3. Arkham City
Batman: Arkham City
I was going to put the GCPD, but to be honest, this entire game takes place in a winter world.  Arkham City is in the middle of winter, and it plays to this element well.  Each section of the game has a bit of the winter element in play, and it looks awesome!  This game looks amazing, and no area feels half-assed.  They wanted it to be a frigid winter, and they made just that in this game.  Even the indoor areas have some signs that winter is in the air, and it is making things miserable.  I love this game so much, and a lot of why I love it is because of the amazing atmosphere that it has.  This was the Batman game that we all were hoping for, and man does it deliver!  Just an amazing place.

2. Hoth
Star Wars: Shadow of the Empire
In the world of underrated games, this game is high on that list.  Shadow of the Empire was an awesome shooter, and some of the fighter combat segments were awesome.  Having the original orchestral score from the film of the Battle of Hoth doesn’t hurt, either.  Not only was the Speeder segments where you are destroying Walkers fun, but inside the Hoth base, where you are getting out while the getting is good is also a lot of fun, with a really neat boss fight at the end.  A difficult as fuck boss fight too.  This is a completely unappreciated game, and it really was fun, giving a new character with his own agenda a neat story to follow.  This was a great game, and anyone who says otherwise is an idiot.

And my favorite winter wonderland to traverse is…

1. The Top of the Mountain
Journey
I was tempted to put the journey up the side of the mountain, because it does lead to the emotional climax of the game, where you see this little wanderer trying so hard to get to the top, yet seeming to fail and die, but to be honest, we all loved when he finally gets to the top.  For one, it gives him a chance to redeem his failure, but the payoff is amazing.  The graphics on top of this mountain are breath-taking.  The music is so beautiful that you feel like you have made a great accomplishment, traveling with this silent companion.  And how it all comes together is just poetry.  This is my favorite game, and this last area always reminds me why.

Until next time, a quote,

“Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.”  -Edith Sitwell

Peace out,

Maverick

Top 10 Things I Liked About Christmas

Well, in lieu of a blog about Christmas itself, I thought that this year’s Christmas blog would be about something different – the things I like most about Christmas.  It is by far my favorite holiday.  Or rather, it was.  It was a holiday that I loved so much.  But this year, for the first time, I genuinely don’t give a shit.  This is the first year that it couldn’t matter to me less that it is Christmas.  I don’t feel anything for this holiday.  We’ll get into why in a minute.  But first, here are the top 10 reasons that I used to love this holiday.  And this makes it all the harder that this year, I couldn’t care less.

10. Ornaments
Oh how I have always loved putting up the Christmas tree.  This is the first year that I had no part in it.  I had to get back to the dorms because of work and final projects.  It was so hectic that I genuinely felt overwhelmed at times.  But one of my favorite parts about this holiday was putting up the Christmas tree and figuring out where the best spots were for everything.  It was so tedious, yet so enjoyable.  I always loved it.  And once it was all done, they looked so beautiful.  I truly do regret not getting to help put up the tree this year.  I would have done that part long before this holiday went to shit for me.

9. My Cat
One of the things that has been hardest about living at the dorms was that I couldn’t be around my cat, Lizzy.  I do so love that little beast.  She’s a whiny, angry little puss, who only loves me.  She treats everybody else like yesterday’s trash, except for me.  I remember when I first got the little devil.  She was climbing up the cage wall at the pet store.  She looked at me like “get me the fuck out of here!”  I knew from that moment that her and I were going to be best friends.  She’s getting old.  That makes me sad.  If she dies, then I am that much more alone.  She’s one of the few things I can depend on always being there for me.  Unlike the person who threw my friendship in the trash recently, and didn’t even look back.  I love that cat so much.  So incredibly much.

8. Snow (when I don’t have to drive in it)
Having lived in the most northern state in the Union, I have had to live with snow every winter.  And when I don’t have to drive in it, it is beautiful.  It’s a beautiful thing to see.  Of course, it turns the roads into a dangerous mess, and it seems like every year, every dumb shit in my part of the world forgets how to drive in it.  Like the summer was so long that they forgot that winter exists.  Dumb bastards.  But I do love watching it fall, if I know that I don’t have anywhere that I need to be in the next few days.  Very, very beautiful.

7. My Favorite Christmas Specials
It kills me that I forgot my movie collection at the dorms, because I could use a good Christmas special right now.  I linked my Top 10 Christmas Specials blog after the number.  Check it out, if you want to know what tickles my holiday buttons.  Some of them might not make much sense to you, but I still think they are beautiful.  I’m one of those weird people who has my own little quirks, but it’s all good.  I get to have fun, and that’s what matters.  Well, I did.  After losing a friendship that meant so much to me, because of a person I never met, then I just stopped caring.  Still, I hope that you all were able to find that little Christmas film that makes you feel all warm inside.  I envy you for being able to feel that way.

6. People actually being nice!
For real, have you ever noticed that even the biggest asshole in the universe turns into one of the sweetest people the moment that this time of year comes around?  I wish that some people I knew were like that.  Then, I wouldn’t be sitting here, crying while listening to Christmas music on the radio, feeling like shit.  I kept hoping that the spiked eggnog (one of the few kinds of booze I will actually drink) would dull the pain.  But it doesn’t.  She left my life, and right when I was hoping to see her the most.  I think she did that on purpose.  But it does feel good when you can get that person who is a dick the rest of the year, but then you see them in a Christmas tree sweater, and they are actually smiling.  Alas, my work-mates at my job didn’t get that.  My smile is such a rare occurrence these days that I think the people at my job would be shocked if they ever saw it.  I don’t have a reason to smile.

5. Presents (duh)
Yeah, kind of a given that I would be big on this one.  Who isn’t?  Who doesn’t love to get presents under the tree?  Ironically, for me, I was told to temper my expectations, since the parents don’t have much money.  But that’s okay.  I don’t mind that at all.  They have to look after themselves first.  I have no desire to feel good about this season anyway, so it’s all good.  I just want…for the day to be over.  That way, I can stop feeling like I want to cry.  It just hurts too much.  Was what we had worth nothing?  She said it meant so much.  That losing me would hurt more than she could bear.  Yet throwing what we had away, without so much as a word to me, didn’t seem to faze her in the least.  She seemed almost happy to be rid of me.  And all because of a guy who never met me.  Fuck love.

4. No School Work (or job work)
Can’t complain about this one.  It let me finally catch up on Assassin’s Creed III, which I had been waiting for ever since I preordered it back in September.  It was worth it.  That game is awesome!  And getting to let my insomnia not be an anchor in my life was pretty sweet too.  Though it has given me more time to think, which does me no kindness now.  I was hoping to see so many people when I got back home.  Instead, I have seen only one friend, and while I do love her to death, I was hoping to see more.  Now, she is moving away, and everybody else is gone.  And the only person I was hoping to see over break got pissed at me (this isn’t the friend who threw me away.  Somebody else), and now our friendship is hurting.  Irony – for the same reason a best friend threw my friendship in the trash.  But I do get an actual break.  That is pretty damn sweet.

3. Lights
Probably the greatest saving grace about this holiday is the lights on the tree.  I remember how good it made me feel, and how much I was able to get lost in them.  Now, when I look at them, it just hurts.  It seems like no matter how loyal I am to people, my loyalty is not rewarded.  I try so hard to be a good friend, yet what do I get in return?  I get people to throw my friendship away, and to treat me like I am somebody they can use and throw away.  My dedication has been abused, time and time again.  And for what?  The lights are so beautiful.  I stare into them.  I want to get lost in them.  Yet all they do now is remind me why it hurts so much to be me.  It’s no fun being me.  Being me fucking sucks.  Yet they are still beautiful.  If I believed there was a God, he would be in the Christmas lights.  But that’s just me.  I’m weird like that.

2. Sex
Yeah, when I made this list, it made sense why this was close to the top (I made this list a long time ago).  When one has a person that they love, one of the best times of year to express it is during Christmas.  So many holidays kinks, if that’s what one’s into.  There is this one girl who I wish I could share some kinks.  Run my fingers through her brown hair, let my hands satisfy a fetish of mine and fondle her large breasts, to explore every inch of her body.  She is in good shape, but not a super-model.  I am glad of this.  I like my women to look like real women, not some idealized vision of beauty.  She thinks she is in such bad shape.  I really must cure her of this.  And yet, at the same time, I now hate sex.  I hate it so much, because the drive to pursue it, along with love, has completely destroyed a friendship.  See, her boyfriend didn’t like me.  Why?  Got me.  I’ve never met the guy.  This guy doesn’t like me, when all I was at that point, since she lived so far away, was a text and Facebook message to her.  That was it.  Yet apparently, I was causing problems.  Why?  She had no answer, and saw fit to tell me to leave it alone.  I was so tempted to yell and scream that this is bullshit, but what’s the use?  The friendship is dead now.  I am alone again.

And the thing that I liked most about this holiday, and why it was once my favorite holiday is…

1. Eggnog and Brandy
What a perfect combination.  This is, by far, the greatest drink in the mostly-gross history of alcohol.  It all tastes awful to me, except for this and a couple others.  This concoction has seen me through the last week or so, as I come to grips with how things are.  Why did this have to happen?  Why couldn’t it have been stopped, or made less awful?  What could we have done different?  I want to stop asking myself.  I want it to stop hurting.  But it doesn’t.  The booze dulls the pain, but in the end, it does nothing for me but remind me of how pathetically sad it all is.  Still, this drink is amazing.  If you haven’t had it, do.  You won’t regret it.

I want to like this holiday.  I want to think it is a great holiday.  Instead, all I have to think about now is how much I wish it would just go away.  That way, I could cry, and not feel like I am bringing people down.  I have to hide it, because I want people to be happy.  But in the end, I am miserable, and hiding it does nothing to change that.  Fuck love.  Fuck relationships.  Fuck everything to do with this whole holiday.

Fuck Christmas.

Until next time, a quote,

“ I’ve always assumed that love is a dangerous disadvantage. Thank you for the final proof.”  -Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock

Peace out,

Maverick

Top 10 Most Anticipated Games of 2013

2012 wasn’t exactly the best year for gaming.  Don’t get me wrong, there were some very great games, like Assassin’s Creed III.  And I am sick and tired of hearing people bitch about Resident Evil 6.  I actually liked it.  It mixed the old classic zombies with the newer kind.  Honestly, I like the mode with Ada Wong the best.  It had some of the older zombies, and the newer ones, in the same mode, and it got rid of your partner, which made things a lot better.  If the series could move ahead with that, I wouldn’t have a problem, to be honest.  So yeah, this wasn’t the greatest year.  Part of that is that some game developers pushed back their titles into 2013, which is just fine with me.  Take the time, and get it right.  This year had a lot of rush-to-market games, and we don’t need more.  Of course, some games have been waiting for so long that we don’t think they will ever come out…more on that later.

Anyway, I am actually excited for 2013.  There are a lot of titles, especially from places I didn’t see coming, that I am looking forward to.  And one that I just heard about, but it IMMEDIATELY piqued my interest.  Here is my list for the 10 games that are coming out next year, that I cannot wait to play!

10. Devil May Cry
And here we go.  I get to have some gaming dumbass come on here and yell at me about how Dante looks too different, or that the series didn’t need a reboot.  Ugh, shut up!  You people are idiots!  I’m starting to think that the people who complain about gamers being a bunch of whiners have a point.  But you know what, screw that!  I like what I have seen so far.  It’s still as over-the-top as the previous entries in the series.  But now, it’s got everything I like an over-the-top action game – blood, guts, swearing for no reason, out of control violence, and hopefully it has some sexy stuff as well.  Knowing the Devil May Cry franchise, and since Ninja Theory wanted to do right by the brand, I have a feeling they won’t disappoint.  But they also added some stuff I REALLY like.  Nods to Anonymous, Occupy Wall Street, clever jabs at Fox News, and also government corruption.  I love all of those things, and I cannot wait to see where they go with this.  And for you whiners, shut up!  You people get on my nerves.  Also, they look to keep the incredibly deep combat controls, and it’s a score-attack game, which is what players want from this sort of game.  All-in-all, I’d say that this is a good facelift to the genre.

9. Bioshock Infinite
Part of me is actually glad that they pushed this game back to 2013.  I want them to get every last detail of this game right.  I want it to totally own in every conceivable way. And from what I’ve seen so far, it isn’t going to disappoint.  This game definitely lives up to the Bioshock mandate of having a rich world, filled with the insane, but also being identifiable.  You have the corrupt government of the flying city of Columbia.  The rebels who have gone from a movement for good to a bunch of thugs who are killing everyone who doesn’t agree with them.  There are a lot of subtle nods to how revolutions happen in real life.  This is definitely a world that I can see myself getting into.  There are also some great character interactions, and even some very subtle nods to other classic cinema.  I was looking forward to this game this year, and I am looking forward to it next year.  Thankfully, I won’t have to wait long.  Hence why it is so low on the list.

8. Tomb Raider
Another reboot, this was a franchise that desperately needed it.  Lara Croft was in danger of becoming one of the video game heroes-to-zeroes, like Earthworm Jim and Sonic the Hedgehog (I’m sorry, but yeah.  I love him, but even I have to admit, his brand name has gotten REALLY old.  Sonic could use a reboot).  But man, for once, Square Enix hasn’t half-assed.  Everything I have seen about this game makes it look just great.  The action set-pieces are amazing.  The character is a lot more vulnerable, which is just fine with me.  I want to see her grow into the badass she has inside of her.  The action is a LOT more stealth-based, which is great.  Everything about this game looks good.  Some people are calling it an Uncharted knock-off, but I couldn’t disagree more.  This game is dark, harsh and has a brutal side to it that I cannot wait to experience.  I am quivering in anticipation of seeing Croft facing her own demons.

7. Tales of Xillia
A lot like the Final Fantasy series, I have a long and healthy relationship with the Tales series.  Tales of the Abyss is one of my favorite games, and gives us one of the most convincing love connections that I have seen in any game.  From what I have seen thus-far, the visuals in this game are amazing, and the combat system is definitely a lot more action-packed, while still being unique.  This game has already gotten a lot of high marks in Japan, and I cannot wait to see what it’s all about here in America.  I could use another fantasy RPG.  Hopefully they get good voice-actors for the roles, along with a good adaptation from Japanese to English, because that was the last game’s problem – it didn’t have that.  I have missed them so.

6. The Last of Us
The developers of the Uncharted series have shown that they are more than capable of delivering amazing games with incredibly engaging narratives.  The Uncharted series is still one that I play and enjoy, because of how rich the world it created was.  The characters were all vibrant and had their own personalities.  Granted, some of the villains weren’t especially interesting, but hopefully that is where they improve with this game.  The Last of Us looks to have everything that it should.  The main character is a man with a battered past, just trying to survive.  The girl he is traveling with doesn’t look to be a repeat of Ashley from Resident Evil 4.  She looks to be able to take care of herself, to an extent, which is really good, because I don’t want to spend this game baby-sitting her.  And the environment looks great.  The over-grown cities, the bandit factions, and most importantly – the grotesque and disturbing fungus zombies.  There is a lot still in the dark about this game, and I am eagerly awaiting the chance to learn more.

5. Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
When I heard that Studio Ghibli, one of my favorite film studios there is, was planning on making a video game, I was more than a little skeptical.  Who wouldn’t be?  But I took a lot of relief when I heard that Level 5 was going to be involved in its creation.  They have a long track record of making good RPGs, I took a little comfort.  And then, I saw footage of the game, and the deal was sealed.  My god, this game is gorgeous!  The animation segments are on par with the highest quality of Ghibli animation, and the in-game graphics are beautiful.  But it doesn’t end there!  They have a world with a ton of depth, that you want to get yourself immersed in.  The combat system is also very unique.  They take a Pokemon-esque approach, with you being able to summon and command monsters, and level them up much the same.  I hope they take a couple of cues from Pokemon, and allow you to level up your monsters and change them into new forms.  That would be awesome!  But you, the characters, also have your own value in combat.  There are no fifth wheels, and I am so hyped.  Honestly, I want this game for all of the aspects.  It is going to be loads of fun.  Of that, I have no doubt!

4. SimCity
I don’t know how many of you haven’t figured this out by now – but I LOVE games where you can create your own world.  As a writer, that is always something I have gotten into.  Plus, another thing I hope you’ve figured out – I’m a far-left liberal.  I would go so far as to call myself a socialist.  Whenever I have a game like this, I want to make it into a liberal paradise.  They have taken the aspects of previous games that worked, and have made them better.  Everything I have seen from demos and trailers shows that despite how complicated this game can be, it’s still user-friendly, which is what you want for a game like this.  I have no doubt that there’s a learning curve, but I’m not too worried.  I mean to create my socialist paradise yet!  The people will love me!  And I will get mocked in the comments section for being a liberal here in America.  Ah, good times…

3. Crysis 3
I have a rather recent relationship with the Crysis series.  I got Crysis 2, and I found it was a lot of fun.  Every time I think that I’ve figured out just how to do something, the game gives me a new way to play.  I like that.  You can experiment with all kinds of weapons, tech, and how you use the nanosuit.  I am hoping that the next game expands on that.  Let me customize stuff.  Let me see what potential I can get out of it.  There is a lot to look forward to.  Oh yeah, and the visuals.  Dear god, the visuals in the next game look amazing!  It is going to be a lot of fun.  Plus, you get to be a complete badass who knows he’s a boss, so he just doesn’t give a fuck.  Honey badger can suck it!

2. Watch Dogs
This is another game that, the moment I heard about it, I was intrigued.  Ubisoft has a gift at finding that odd little idea that you have always had in the back of your mind, and making it into a good game.  Obviously, with the Assassin’s Creed series drawn to a close, they need a new one to market.  And this game definitely looks to get the job done.  The concept is that the entire world is controlled by a large-scale network.  Now, information is the most valuable commodity.  A hacker can get anything, from your medical files to your bank account.  There is a system of watch-dogs, who are supposed to keep things under control, but here’s the big question – who watches the watch-dogs?  This game asks just that, and gives you the tools to find out.  With hints to darker and larger schemes, along with many playable characters, I cannot wait to see what the future holds for this game!  You can hack everything.  Rather than just being a typical action game, there are a lot of spy aspects, and I can immediately tell that part of the fun is going to be finding ways to interact with the world, and mixing up how you play.  People speculate that this game is going to be for the next-gen platforms, but I really, REALLY hope not.  I want to play!  I want to so bad…

And just like last year, my top pick may confuse some of you.  But I don’t care, I want this game SO bad!

1. BEYOND: Two Souls
When I first heard about the game Heavy Rain, from the developer Quantic Dream, I was more than a little skeptical.  A game that is just one giant quicktime event?  How could I get into that?  But boy did that game answer!  The story was dark and harsh, the characters were all engaging, and by the end, it was a painful experience, that left you with some serious feels.  Seeing that Quantic Dream is back at it again, I am already excited.  This game stars Ellen Page (oh yeah, she’s hot…), and the likeness they got of her is incredible, through 15 years of her life.  Not much is known about her life, and how she got where she is, but she is on the run from the police, being followed by a spirit-being known as Aiden.  What this being is, and its connection with her are also unknown,  For so little being known, I am stoked for this game.  The visuals are amazing, the story is just as dark and compelling as Heavy Rain, and it has Ellen Page, which is a great seller, since they have clearly used her to her best.  Something about her saying “fuck” is just so hot!  I cannot wait for this game.  More than any other, I am going nuts for it!  I hope you are too!

Honorable Mention: Final Fantasy Versus XIII
There’s an old saying – Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me.  But whose fault is it the third time?  Does anyone remember the post I wrote at the beginning of this year about the top 10 games I was looking forward to for 2012?  Well, in it, I had The Last Guardian.  I said that if it didn’t come out this year, it’s never coming out at all.  And I hold to that.  I have given up on that game ever coming out.  Similarly, if Versus XIII doesn’t come out next year, it’s never coming out at all.  It’s been seven years.  I don’t think that’s an unreasonable expectation.  But I want it to.  I really do.  This game looks awesome!  For real, everything I have seen about this game makes it look like it will make up for all the failure of XIII.  Problem is – nobody knows where this game is.  Every time Square Enix makes an announcement about stuff, they never talk about it.  Hell, they’re making another sequel to XIII!  What the fuck?!  Where is Versus?  Is it in gaming purgatory, never to escape?!  I want this game to come out.  I really do.  I hope it does.  It would be a shame if a game with a premise this cool would die on the vine.

Until next time, a quote,

“Tell them to leave me the fuck alone, because next time, I’ll kill everyone!”  -Jodie Holmes, BEYOND: Two Souls

Peace out,

Maverick

Top 10 Favorite Books

Now, for a long time, after I made a Top 20 Favorite Films list, and a Top 15 Favorite Video Games list, people have been coming after me saying -

You say that you love all great stories, well then, where is the list of your favorite books, huh?!

And you know what, that’s a good point.  Since I do have a love of literature, I thought to myself – what are my favorite books?  This has been the hardest list that I have ever had to make.  I was determined to narrow the list down to my top 10.  I wasn’t going to let myself have to expand on it.  There are so many books that I could read, over and over and over again.  But I sat down, and forced myself to pick the top 10 books that just make me happy.  This is that list.  I should say, up-front, that this isn’t a list of the books that I thought were the best written.  Like my list of favorite movies, the are just the books that I could read, over and over and over again, and never lose enjoyment.  I hope you enjoy.

10. Watership Down, by Richard Adams
When you hear that a book is about some cute little bunny rabbits, I bet that most of you don’t think that they could be in a very dark, very gritty and often-times very harsh story, do you?  I didn’t, when I first heard about it, and I was very happily surprised.  This book tells the story of a group of rabbits who are off to find a new home.  Their journey along the way leads them to some of the most disturbing places you can possibly imagine.  But even when it gets dark, you can still feel the hope behind these characters.  I think my favorite character was Fiver.  The little mystic of the group, the way he talked and the way he acted was always interesting.  And his visions were very cool as well.  This book tones up the dark in a huge way, and I loved every disturbing minute of it.

9. Jurassic Park, by Michael Crichton
Just to give you a heads-up, you are going to see several of his books on here.  Michael Crichton is, by far, my favorite author.  And this was the first book of his that I ever read.  It’s ironic that the film made from this book was the first film I ever saw in theaters.  When I was a little kid, I was a dinosaur nut.  And since I taught myself how to read, I couldn’t wait to read a book about dinosaurs that was set in modern days.  I just loved it.  This book was loads of fun.  I like that it wasn’t so much about the danger and action, as the movie was, but instead was about the discovery and the mixing of an old world with the new.  They really look at the world of the dinosaurs, and try to put you into the shoes of understanding what it would be like.  Also, as with all Crichton books, they REALLY get into the science of how they were brought back, and everything else.  Crichton loved his science, and to show off what a good researcher he was to write his books.  And I have yet to have a problem with that.  It made for a great book.

8. Where the Red Fern Grows, by Wilson Rawls
A good coming-of-age story is hard to do.  Part of the problem that authors find is that they think that they can write a good kid’s story, then they fail to give it the respect that it deserves.  This book is not one of those.  This was the best coming-of-age story that I have ever read.  The story goes that a young boy wants to get himself a couple of hunting dogs.  He busts his ass, and is finally able to get them.  Then, a bond is formed between him and his two dogs that is so beautiful, and so heart-breaking when you see how it all ends (I shouldn’t have to say *spoiler alert* for this book.  Everyone should have already read it).  A neat factoid for you – when I was in 5th grade, our teacher would read to the class at lunch.  It was a nice thing, and she always had great books.  She got to the end of this book, and she couldn’t finish it.  I was the one who ended up finishing it, and it took all my effort not to cry.  The end of this book is so sad that I still cry.  The boy and his two dogs have so much personality, and they are forced through circumstance to grow up way too fast.  The two scenes that stick out to me are the death of the bully, when he impales himself on his own weapon, and the death of the dogs.  Both of these scenes were so powerful, and stick with you long after you’re done reading.  This is a great story, for people of all ages.

7. White Shark, by Peter Benchley
After having a book that is so emotionally and thematically powerful, you might be wondering what a not-too-complicated horror book is doing on my list.  Well, it is here for a reason.  For one, I like Peter Benchley’s writing style.  He is a lot of fun to read.  I have always liked it.  But this book is on here because I like how a lot of the perspective is from the creature.  It isn’t a man or beast.  It’s something else.  It has a mind, and this mind works.  It thinks, and can formulate plans.  This monster is a mix of everything there is to fear.  Plus, the characters in the island where it is taking place are a lot of fun too.  I especially like the neat little romance between the main character’s son and a deaf girl.  It is made to be a lot like how a young boy, almost a teenager, falls in love with a girl.  It is a lot of fun to read.  There is no real complexity to it.  This is just some nice cheesecake.  Something good to curl up with.  And really, is that so wrong, when enjoying a book?

6. Disclosure, by Michael Crichton
See, I told you there would be some more books by this guy on the list.  Now, while most people will rightly lionize Crichton for his science-fiction work, I honestly think that some of his corporate espionage books were great too.  And of those, this was my favorite.  The book is about a man who works for a software company.  He is expecting a promotion as a new business merger is about to happen.  However, he is passed over, and the promotion is given to somebody he didn’t expect – an ex-lover of his, who left him long ago.  Being a married man, he wants nothing to do with this woman, but she invites him to his office and tries to put the moves on him.  He rejects her, but when he comes to work the next day, he finds out that he is being charged with sexual harassment.  Instead of bowing out gracefully, he decides to fight back, hiring a lawyer and charging her right back with sexual harassment.  This book takes a rather hard look at gender roles, and it doesn’t back down from its premise.  It makes the argument that men can just as easily be victimized, and that things are not as black and white as society wants them to be.  Looking at gender happens a lot in this book, and I love how much respect they give how heavy a topic this is.  Along the way, the man finds a trail of sex, lies, corporate greed, and how his company was intending to screw him and many others.  It’s a great book, if you like a good conspiracy story.

5. The Sacrifice/The Solution, by K.A. Applegate
I said that I was going to pick only my top 10, but I am cheating a bit.  Honestly, I just couldn’t find a way to pick between these two books.  They are both so similar in mood and tone (and in the same series), that I couldn’t pick between them.  I was pondering making a list of what I believe to be the Top 10 Underrated Series’s.  If I did, the Animorphs series, which these two books are both a part of, would be high on it.  This series tells the story of a group of children who, by sheer chance, is in a construction yard, where an alien life-form comes crashing down.  He tells them of an alien menace who has been slowly invading Earth, and is looking to take control of all life.  To date, there is no effort against them, because they are keeping their operation small, so no one will notice.  And they are winning.  The children are given a device that allows them to change into any animal (including people) that they touch and acquire the DNA of.  This series is amazing.  The themes at play are just great.  There is the loss of innocence, the cost of war, what it means to be human, how you cannot recapture your past life once you’ve lost it, and so many others.  And the two books that capture it best are these two.

The first, The Sacrifice, is the third from the last.  Without spoiling anything, it has been a long war.  The Animorphs are tired, and ready for it to be over.  Things are getting worse and worse towards the end, and now, they have one last plan to do some major damage to their enemy, hoping that help that they sent message to would arrive.  Each book in the series is told from a first-person perspective of only one character.  This one is from the Andalite youth, Aximili, or just Ax, for short.  His people have commanded him to let the invasion continue on Earth.  That would have the Yeerk threat amassed on Earth, and able to be crushed in one swift blow.  It would be final, and it would be over.  But all of humanity would die in the process.  The internal monologues in this book are AMAZING!  Ax wrestling with himself over what the right thing to do is is so powerful that I could read just that scene alone a million times.  The conclusion he comes to is so brief in the end of the book, but powerful.  It’s great.

Then there is The Solution.  This is from the character Rachel’s perspective.  As far as character growth is concerned, I think that Rachel is by far the crowning achievement of the series.  She goes from an adrenaline junkie who loves the fighting, to becoming consumed by her love of carnage, to the point where arguments have been made that she is kind of a sociopath.  By the end of the series, even her own mother is scared of her.  And in this book, she confronts her own internal darkness in a very big way.  The dialogue between her and Jake, her cousin and leader of the Animorphs, is another scene that is so good that I could read it over and over again.  These were great books, of an incredibly underrated and relatively forgotten series.

4. Carrie, by Stephen King
One thing that I, and pretty much every literature critic under the sun has gotten on King about is the fact that he cannot end a book to save his life.  Stephen King is a very good writer, but that has always been one of his Achilles Heels.  But this book does not suffer from that at all.  Telling the story, from multiple perspectives, of the events leading up to a girl with telekinetic powers going on a psychotic rampage, you get into a lot of character’s heads, and it has a conclusion that is so sad, yet leaves you with a feeling of disturbed dread, because it implies that this sort of thing is going to happen again.  You really do feel for Carrie.  Even though what she did was monstrous, you have to wonder – is it really her fault?  She tried to be a good person.  She tried to be a good Christian.  But the ugliness of the people around her, and the ugliness of the belief system her mother shoved down her throat tore this girl apart.  In the end, I think this was a brilliant critique on society as a whole, and religion.  Something King was good at.  I loved this book.  Every page of it.

3. Prey, by Michael Crichton
This is the last book by Crichton, I promise.  But man, this is an awesome book!  This is the book which I think was the magnum opus of Crichton’s talent as a writer.  He took something that is still pseudo-science, to this day, and made it something we could all understand.  One of the cool thing about Crichton is that he takes things that are real science, and then moves them ahead to the next step.  In this book, it looks at nano-technology, and also the integration of science and nature.  The story is about a man, who goes from software developer to stay-at-home dad, but is forced back into the mix when a nano-tech program goes haywire, and things are getting dangerous.  This book has some great tension.  I won’t spoil it for you, but the last third of it is just great.  I was so pissed when I would have to stop reading to go to class or work or something.  It legitimately pissed me off.  This book was awesome, truly awesome.  From start to finish, it was Crichton’s best work, by far.

2. World War Z, by Max Brooks
When I first heard the title of this book, you can imagine that I was more than a little skeptical.  A book about a global zombie war?  Come on.  How can that possibly be good?  Thankfully, I got one of the best answers ever.  Max Brooks is another of those authors who really does his research, and isn’t afraid to show it off.  And he did just that in this book.  This book is told as a series of interviews with people who went through the events of a narrowly avoided zombie apocalypse.  It looked at the beginning, middle and end of the zombie war.  Man, the cultural authenticity to this book was great, just great.  You felt like all of the people belonged in their respective places.  From looking at the corruption of American politics, our over-blown belief in how badass our military is, to looking at a Japanese young man, who had hid from the world for his entire life, now having to face the world when it is falling apart.  I think that my favorite segments in the book were the one from the perspective of the soldier, talking about America’s failure that nearly cost them the war, to the segment about how the entire country of North Korea completely disappeared.  In one night, everyone from that nation vanishes.  When you look at how dogmatic that nation is, it makes sense, and the tension that that scene leaves is incredible.  This was a great book.  Don’t let the title fool you.

And my favorite book, to date, is…!

1. The Amber Spyglass, by Phillip Pullman
I was battling between myself to cheat again and put the entire series up here, because I love all of these books so incredibly much.  But when I thought about this series, my first thought went to how much I love this book, the third and last.  This book was great.  There were so many emotional scenes.  The plot of this series is unbelievably complex, so I won’t go too much into that.  This book picks up where the last left off, with Lyra having been kidnapped by her mother, and Will, her traveling companion, looking to save her, with the help of two angels.  The events of this book are so dark, and so heartless at time, you do feel legitimately hurt by it.  The dialogue between Will and Mrs. Coulter (Lyra’s mother) when he finds her is so damn intense, but it gets into the darkness of both of these characters.  But my favorite scene, and I say this from my inner romantic, is from a scene towards the end, where Will and Lyra finally admit their love for each other.  That scene is so intense, and so beautiful, I love it.  But then it comes to the saddest, most unnecessarily painful ending of all time.  For real, this ending was brutal on a level that I have never seen, before or since.  I wonder if I actually had to be, but that’s nit-picking.  The fact is that I love this book, so incredibly much, and were it not for the ending, I would love this series like nothing else.

Until next time, a quote,

“I was awake and I wanted to tell you the same and now I know what I must have felt all the time: I love you, Will, I love you.”  – Lyra Belacqua

Peace out,

Maverick

Top 10 Video Game Worlds I Want to Live In

It occurred to me the other day that I haven’t done one of these in a very long time.  Another thing also occurred to me – life here sucks.  Poverty, disease, war, and seemingly no way out, it really, really sucks sometimes to live in this world.  As I was playing Limbo, a totally awesome indie game that I have recently purchased, I thought to myself – man, this world is absolutely awful.  Living here sounds like one of the levels of Hell. But that is part of what makes it a great game.  That world looks so awful, yet this nameless character is trying to survive in it.  It is one of the reasons you get so invested.  It’s an amazing game.

So I got to thinking – if I could, what gaming worlds would I like to live in?  I am a gamer.  I have seen enough of them.  What ones would really sound appealing to me to be a part of?  Well, here is the list of worlds that I wish I could go and live in, if only for a while.

10. Fable
Why live here?  Well, isn’t it obvious?  I of course mean the universe from the first Fable.  They got perpetually dumber as the series went on.  But the first game, it had it all.  Adventure, danger, magic.  You could start out as a nobody, and become somebody.  Having magic powers, getting to be a hero (or a villain, depending on where my mood went), and getting to kill monsters.  If you could have the rest of the places from the sequels to explore, without the dumb story-lines that went with them, this would be perfect.  Plus, I would get to be a badass mage.  I never was into swords in these games.  First thing I always did was max out my magic and my bow.  I wanted to kill my enemies, quickly, quietly, and from a distance.  It was always loads of fun.

9. Star Fox 64
I would love to live here for one reason – being a badass star pilot.  I would have to either be an ace pilot in the Lylat military, or one of the members of Star Fox.  I mean, sure, there was a war, and that’s bad…for some.  For me, I would be right there on the front!  Out with the best of them, kicking ass and taking names.  I would want to be some kind of cool-looking cat, like Panther from Star Fox Assault.  I wouldn’t mind being with the occasional gang every now and again.  It’s all for the purpose of being the biggest badass in the stars, with the most kills on my belt.  But when Andross invades, all bets are off.  I want to be right in the thick of it, making hell for everybody.  Oh, and I would fuck the living shit out of Krystal, from Star Fox Assault.  Oh yeah, kinky cat on fox sex.  Let that image sink into your subconscious…

8. Dead or Alive: Beach Volleyball
Yeah, I want to live there for the same reason that I would enjoy living in the universe of porn.  I mean, this game was meant to be as sexual as possible, without actually being porn.  So the way I see it, it must be the same rules as a typical porn, in that any random interaction with one of the incredibly hot girls can turn into sex.  The same reason that I would enjoy a holodeck in Star Trek is the reason that I want to live in this universe – I want to get all the sex I can handle.  And yeah, I would get it.  Now, I am not two-faced.  If there are hot guys on this island, I am going to be looking at them too.  I’m a greedy son of a bitch.  I want it all.  And I would organize all sorts of kinky orgies.  It would be loads of fun.  Simple and clean…well, up until the sex starts.  Then it gets dirty…

7. Mass Effect
I would think that this choice would be a no-brainer.  I mean, you can fly around in space, on your own ship, potentially as captain.  You can go to all kinds of cool worlds, meet all sorts of neat aliens, and get to take part in a battle to save the entire galaxy.  I would love that.  Oh, and there are also a lot of hot aliens.  But for me, that’s just garnish.  If there was a ton of weapon variety, a ton of aliens to come across, and a ton of things to do, why wouldn’t I want to live there?  It combines all the things I want – power over a group of people, the ability to do awesome things, and a complete lack of responsibility.  What more do I need?!

6. Batman: Arkham City
Oh man, would I love to live in this universe!  The chaos, the anarchy, the hot body of Harley Quinn, and most importantly – the ability to put my intellect to work and to have all kinds of fun.  I was always a fan of The Riddler.  He was smarmy, egotistical, intelligent, driven and so fun to watch.  If I was ever going to be a super-villain, that is what I want to be.  Rather than us my physical prowess to mess with the Bat, I want to use my mind.  Oh, and since the Joker died, I would get Quinn on my side, win her over, and then, fuck her senseless.  But after that, I would do things right, and actually kill the Bat.  After that, it’s open season on chaos!  I would send my army out into town, creating terror the likes of which you can’t even begin to imagine.  Sure, I would end up turning Gotham into a sewer, and destroying everything good, but hey, I would have a hot crazy chick at my side, and I would live the good life…until the city was destroyed, that is.

5. Kingdom Hearts
This combines the best of two worlds – Final Fantasy characters, and Disney worlds.  Let’s all just admit that there are one or two, or three, or four, or a lot, of the worlds that Disney has made that we all want to visit.  In this universe, you can!  You can travel between worlds all you want, making the possibilities for exploration and getting to have fun limitless!  Sure, there’s the Heartless, and they are evil and whatnot, but with all the places you could see.  I mean, getting to fly in Neverland would be worth it on its own, but you get the best of all worlds!  And with Disney owning Pixar, that means you could explore those worlds too!  Oh yeah, I would be living it big.  Plus, I’d go and chill with Cloud, learn how to fight from him, and then, find Yuna, Tifa, and Rikku (from X, not X-2) and bang them all silly.  Yeah, you’ve probably noticed, I admit freely that a lot of what I want comes down to sex.  But for this choice, that is also, like with Mass Effect, table garnish.

4. Final Fantasy XIII
“But Lucien, what gives?  I mean, don’t you get these worlds with Kingdom Hearts?”  Nope, just the characters.  And honestly, while I do have my problems with this game, part of the reason I had a problem with it is because I wanted to explore.  The world in this game was so cool.  If I can live in it, that means I can explore.  Hopefully, since I am doubtful that it will ever be released, I can see the world of Versus XIII.  That looked especially cool, because you could telekinetically control swords and block bullets.  Oh yeah, that’s what I’m talking about!  But let me have a chance to explore.  And let me have Lightning.  Her and I could kick some ass together, and then, go back to her place, and have fun until the artificial sun rises.  Now that sounds like fun!  I would even risk becoming a l’cie.  Worth it for a chance to live it up there.  I’m not afraid of my own mortality.

3. Skies of Arcadia
This game combines all the cool stuff about Fable, gives me a cool world to explore, and lets me captain my own ship!  Basically, it combines all the best things from previous choices!  Me, I would be a Sky Pirate.  Going around from place to place, doing whatever job needed doing.  I wouldn’t be strictly good, but not bad either.  Like an anti-hero version of Robin Hood.  I’d rob the rich, but I wouldn’t be above doing some wrong, if I thought it needed doing.  I’d form a new band of pirates, and it would be epic!  I would love to have my story start just after the events of the game, so I could see what the continual growth of technology would do for the world.  It would be great!  Captain of my own ship, doing crazy things, getting into huge battles, and hunting for monsters.  What more could a guy want?

2. Dust: An Elysian Tail
I know what you’re thinking – What the hell?  I mean it’s a fun game, but why would you want to live in this world?  Well, the answer to that is easy – because you get to be a cute kitty with some badass fucking-you-up sword skills, that’s why!  For real, the idea of being an anthropomorphic cat, with a sword, able to be a badass warrior, sounds like a little slice of heaven to me.  Give me a black cat body, and a katana, and I am going to cut me up some awesomeness!  There really isn’t much more to say.  Kitties are cute, and I want a sword and badass sword skills.  Nothing sexual or else involved.  It’s that simple.

And the universe I want to live in the most is.

1. Assassin’s Creed
Think about this – how many of you wish that you could go back and see what your past life was like?  Well, here you can.  You can also see what real history was like!  You can also find out the truth of the growth of life on Earth.  There are a million and one reasons that I want to live in this universe, but the biggest reason – the Bleed Effect.  Anyone who has played the games knows that you can learn skills, simply from being in the Animus, living the life of your ancestors.  Say one of your ancestors was a badass warrior.  You can be a badass warrior with the Bleed Effect.  Say that one of your ancestors was a Casanova type, and knew all the great sexual positions and ways to charm a woman, well, so can you.  Say that one of your ancestors was a brilliant physicist.  Well, you can be too.  That is all part of the Bleed Effect.  There are so many reasons that I would love this universe, and why I would want to live here the most.

Until next time, a quote,

“There are two contrary impulses which govern this man’s brain-the one sane, and the other eccentric. They alternate at regular intervals.”  -Franz Schubert

Peace out,

Maverick

Top 15 Video Games

So, I am a gamer.  Anyone who has been reading this blog for any length of time knows this.  I am a gamer, and I thought that I would do a post of my favorite games.  I wanted to keep it short, but I have failed at that.  I have been doing those too much lately, and I wanted to give you the top ten games that at any time, I can sit down and be totally entranced by.  For real, if you take my ass and sit it down and put any of these games on, within moments, I am having fun.  Which is what any game should be.  These are the top ten games that brought me the most fun, the most laughs, and the most time in my insomnia-driven childhood.  Enjoy.

15. Skies of Arcadia: Legends
Now, there are a few things in this game that were missing from the Dreamcast version that I wish had been in this game, like the fact that the ship you had wasn’t the only one that you could have.  You could buy and sell your airships, meaning that you could get a better one.  There were more customization options.  There was more that one could do with the crew.  But this game was still pretty good.  It is a fantasy game set in a world that flies in the skies.  The story is generic enough – a young man dreams of being better, goes through hardship, becomes great, defeats an evil bad guy.  We’ve heard that one.  But the execution and the world that this game makes are definitely worth it.  All the extras that make the mythos of this world grow and make it come to life are definitely fun.  And the airship-to-airship battles are so much fun.  There is a LOT of strategy involved in them, along with the personal combat.  This game was lots of fun, and I look forward to playing it again.

14. Final Fantasy X
This is another great fantasy game.  I love this game so much.  This was back when Square Enix was Squaresoft, and back then they actually gave a shit about this series, instead of now, when they are milking their most recent game for all its worth, not giving us the one we want.  They have become cash-cows, and they aren’t even going for the good cash-ins.  Jerks.  But this game was great.  The story was awesome.  A young man named (you make your own) lives in Zanarkand.  He is a blitzball star, total hit with the ladies, but is living in his late father’s shadow.  Through a bad turn of fate, he is teleported away from Zanarkand by the giant monster Sin.  Sin destroys the city, sending him 1000 years into the future.  From there, you learn about this world, the main character’s place in it, and has one of the best love stories of any game that I have played, ever.  But aside from the story, the battle system is loads of fun, the characters are great, and the world is amazing.  I loved every single minute of this game.

13. Starfox 64
I have never been a really huge fan of air combat simulator games, but this game was definitely an exception.  Starfox 64 is an awesome game.  There are tons of missions, and to get to some of them, you have to be very clever and do special events.  It is loads of fun, and quite a challenge once you get to the later missions.  There was a sequel game that was made, Starfox Assault, but that game was severely lacking.  The mission structure had no surprises.  There were no alternate missions or endings.  It was all the same.  But this was the original, and the best.  The bosses were loads of fun, the gameplay was awesome, and the characters were loads of fun.  The dialogues between Fox and his scoobies were some of the most entertaining characters of their day.  For an air combat (along with space combat) simulator, I have a lot of love for this game.

12. Tales of the Abyss
Fantasy games and I have a very…love-hate relationship.  I either really like them, or I really hate them.  This is, as you can probably assume, one of the ones that I love.  This game is loads of fun.  The story is really engaging, even if it is just a typical good vs. evil.  The combat system is loads of fun.  It combines unique combos with the use of magic and interesting combinations of magic and physical combat.  But the thing that really gets me about this game – the characters, and the relationships.  This is another game with a very convincing romance.  The main character Luke and a woman named Tear get whisked across the world at the beginning of the game by accident.  Thus begins their relationship.  It is very much in the same vein as Han Solo and Leia from Star Wars.  There is genuine animosity between the two, but you can feel a deeper attraction.  Over the course of the game, you grow to care about the characters, and their relationship, until the end, where you are practically screaming at them to kiss already!  This game was fun, and I have enjoyed it every time I play.

11. Dead Space 2
I love Dead Space, don’t get me wrong.  But this game is better in every way.  Horror games are something of a lost art to make.  At least, ones that are legitimately scary.  Dead Space and its sequel do it without a hitch.  These games are terrifying, which is something I love.  I still often play them at 2 in the morning.  My poor nerves.  My only real problem with this game is that the main character talks.  A lot.  WAY too much.  Aside from that, the characters are loads of fun.  The combat system is excellent.  The setting is both creepy and engaging.  The weapon selection is loads of fun.  Oh, and getting around in zero-gravity is WAY more fun than the first game.  Getting to float around is exactly what this game needed, where as in the first one, you had to just jump in a straight line from place to place.  I love this game, for everything it has to offer.  Except the chatty main character.  That was something that the first game did better.  In the first game, he didn’t talk at all, which was kind of fun because it let you insert your own voice.  Oh well, loads of scary, action-filled fun!

10. Bioshock
Another horror game that I just love.  It combines the fear of horror with first person shooting.  It isn’t the first game to do this, of course, but I think it is the most engaging.  The setting of this game is the underwater city of Rapture.  That alone is enough to make this game fun, but the creators of this game decided to go a lot further.  They created a lot of really interesting characters, and how they did this is through audio logs and radio communications.  That is also how they established this incredibly engaging world.  The world of Rapture has an incredibly deep and engaging mythos, which you learn about entirely through audio logs.  There is no concrete history, only what you hear about through the various characters.  And it is great.  When one does audio logs in a game, you have to make them really well.  If you don’t, it just comes off as cheap and dumb.  This game doesn’t suffer that problem.  The voice acting in this game is top of the line, and it makes the world much more interesting.  And the gameplay is no slouch, either.  The combination of Plasmids and guns is just great.  This is a great game, and also disturbing as hell.

9. Mario Kart 64
It isn’t a mystery that I am not a fan of racing games.  I mean, it is going around a course, trying to beat the other people to it.  But this game is a complete exception to that.  Everything about this game is good.  The racing isn’t so serious and endlessly complicated as in car racing games.  The controls are simple.  It also adds the ability to use weapons, which makes the races a lot more interesting.  The racing characters are a lot of fun too.  My personal favorite was Toad.  And the courses are also a lot of fun.  Part of the fun of playing this game is finding out how to use the courses to your advantage.  There is a lot of strategy involved in this game, not just racing.  I used to own at this game, and I loved every minute of pwning my friends to death as I played.  This is a great game, and all the sequels that I have played have sucked.  Badly.

8. Metroid Prime
This series of games and I have a very nice relationship.  It combined all the fun aspects of playing as Samus Aran with a first person shooter.  Bless this little game’s heart, because it is such a fun game.  The mechanics are fun.  The varying enemies are fun.  The mythos of the world and the scannable segments that fill you in on the history of the Space Pirates, the Chozo, and the various other groups are fun.  Another great part of the game are the boss fights.  These are some of the most entertaining boss fights that you will ever find in gaming.  The different uses of weapons and terrain is great.  This is a low on brains and high on action game, and I love every minute of it.

7. Shadow of the Colossus
I have only one regret about this game – that more were not made.  This game, this concept, and this style is just awesome.  This is one of those games that I put in the category of art.  The visuals are amazing.  The story is amazing.  But by far the best part are the bosses.  This game is unique in that there really isn’t anything else going on except boss battles.  See, the premise of this game is that you are a young man.  You are heading to a foreign land with a young woman in tow.  She is dead, and you are looking to resurrect her.  You place her on an alter, and a mysterious voice tells you that you can bring her back, but you have to kill 16 giant colossi to do it.  Man, this is such a great premise.  And how it all plays out is awesome.  Each battle with the giant (and sometimes not so giant) Colossi is amazing.  The strategy in this game is finding out what kills them.  And these monsters are simply amazing.  Each one of them looks amazing.  And how these fights play out is just great.  Some of the best visuals in any game.  I really wish that they could have made a sequel to this, or that another game series would have picked up the concept, because it is amazing.  A genuine work of art.

6. Silent Hill 2
It isn’t exactly a secret that the survival horror genre is on life-support.  And this game is one of the great accomplishments of its golden years.  Silent Hill 2 is a profoundly disturbing experience.  Everything about this game shows success in using great themes and dark elements to their advantage.  This is a very slow game.  And when I say slow, I mean SLOW.  This was done deliberately.  This game was made as a very harsh look into the human psyche.  The story goes that a man, James Sunderland, returns to Silent Hill.  He does so after getting a letter from his wife.  The catch is that his wife is dead, and has been for over a year.  Now, he is trying to figure out why he is back in this town, and what the connection of Silent Hill is to his mind.  This game is an incredibly intense and personal experience, diving in to James’ mind, and giving the player a glimpse of the demons at work inside of this man.  Because the demons at work inside of him grow to become the demons at work outside of him in the town, often trying to kill him.  This game is such a visceral experience, and I love every minute of it.

5. Kingdom Hearts II
Again, I love Kingdom Hearts.  It is a great concept, and the characters are fun, and the worlds are great.  This game, however, is much better for a lot of reasons.  For one thing, the first game didn’t feel like it had a direction.  You were doing things, and they were fun, but it never felt like it had a concentrated direction.  This game, on the other hand, felt like it had a very firm direction and you knew where it was going.  Plus, there were a lot more Final Fantasy characters, which was a lot of fun.  There were more worlds, which was fun.  And you know what, I liked the play mechanics.  A lot of people bitched about how simple the combat was.  And especially the quicktime events.  I happened to like those.  The animations in them was usually a lot of fun, and I was more interested in the story than the fighting.  Oh, and the boss battles were just awesome.  Some of the best that I have seen in any game.  This was a great game, and I liked it a lot more than I did the original.

4. Assassin’s Creed (series)
I couldn’t pick a single favorite out of these games.  I love this series so much.  The concept behind it, of being able to look into your own bloodline, and be able to live through that person’s life.  Looking back through history.  This series has a lot of great elements.  The first is the gameplay in general.  The parkour elements are just great.  This game was made by Ubisoft, whose previous cash-cow had been the Prince of Persia series, which used much the same elements.  The next element I love is the combat.  All the unique ways that you can kill your enemies is just great.  Granted, the combat elements got better and better with each game.  At first, they were a little rough.  I also loved the characters.  Both the main character, Desmond Miles, voiced by my favorite video game voice-over, Nolan North, and each of his Assassin ancestors.  They are all awesome.  I cannot wait to see who they are going to have for the next game, coming out this October.

3. Flower
A game that few people have probably heard of, this is one of the most unique gaming experiences that I have ever had.  Made by a very indie company called thatgamecompany, this game is so peaceful.  The premise is that you are a man at an apartment.  He is bored with his life, so he goes into his imagination, as a gust of wind, carrying flower petals to various locations and solving simple puzzles, always as a gust of wind.  You wouldn’t think that such a concept could be good, but this concept is amazing.  The visuals are so great, and the music is peaceful.  I really don’t have much to say about this game aside from how amazingly beautiful and peaceful it is.  I haven’t seen anything like it, and I now have a very nice relationship with thatgamecompany.

2. Batman: Arkham City
Oh my god, where do I even get started?  I love this game so much.  I love the story, with its incredibly dark twists and turns.  I love the voice acting.  The final work of Mark Hamill’s Joker was incredible.  He truly is the character.  Siskel may not have liked his character, but I thought that his performance cemented the fact that Mark Hamill is the greatest small-screen Joker who will ever, EVER, be!  I love the visuals.  This world in this game is so gritty, so harsh, so ugly.  You feel the harshness of Arkham City in every single segment of it.  The designers of this game didn’t waste a frame of making this game look good.  The character models are also really great, and reflect the dark themes at work in this game.  I love all the voice-acting, not just Mark Hamill.  Batman’s character especially was great.  There were some great examinations in this game of just how dark this character really is.  Batman literally was about to just let a thousand people die in order to save his girlfriend.  And the ending to this game is the greatest ending to any game that I have seen ever.  I literally was in shock at how profoundly dark and powerful it was.  Watching Batman and the Joker share a moment, an honest-to-god moment together was just amazing.  I was and still am dumb-founded by it.  This game was incredible.  Every single moment of it was great.  I liked this game more than I did the film The Dark Knight.  It was great.

And my #1 pick for my favorite game is…

1. Journey
Another game by thatgamecompany.  You ever see the film Fantasia?  I call that film an emotional experience.  That is what I call this game.  This is a game of simplicity.  Yet for how simple it is, it is also ambitious.  The concept is that a cloaked man is making his way across a vast desert to a distant mountaintop.  For what purpose, you never have a clear answer.  Nothing in this game is spelled out.  It is all open to interpretation, and that’s what I love about it.  But the things that I love most in this game are the visuals and the music.  Truly, the visuals are the best part.  This desert looks and feels real.  You can almost feel all the grains of sand in it.  You can see the sun and feel its heat as you traverse it.  The darkness feels like actual darkness.  It is so amazing.  And the music is so soft and subtle in places, yet uplifting and sometimes harsh in others.  The piece on the last level is just great.  I love it.  This game is an incredible experience, and it made me feel so emotionally attached to a character who never speaks, and who has no story at all, yet you feel the passion in his journey.  This was a game that proved that not all of those who wander are lost.  I love every minute of it.

Video games are a great medium, a true form of art, and what is amazing is that I have gotten to watch this medium grow around me.  I have watched it grow and evolve, and I continue to watch it evolve.  It is amazing.  I love every minute of it.

Until next time, a quote,

“I would define art as a way of communicating ideas to an audience in a way that the audience finds engaging.”  – Kellee Santiago, TEDxUSC 

Peace out,

Maverick