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david_hardy
Favorite Actress: Kate Winslet
Favorite Movie: Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope
Favorite Author: R.A. Salvatore & Max Brooks
Favorite Writer: Dave Barry
Favorite Computer Game: Maniac Mansion (past) Civilization (present)
Favorite Console Game: Legend of Zelda
Favorite Console: Xbox 360, hard drive was the coolest feature, goodbye memory cards.
Favorite Handheld: Nintendo DS
Reviews
Live Free or Die Hard (2007)
Yippie Kay Yay Sir or Madam
So "Live Free or Die Hard" had many preset factors in my head working against it: PG-13 rating, Justin Long in a major role, a 52 year old action star and an untested director.
I went to see it anyway and well, I was greatly surprised. The action is great (no Paul Verhoveen spatters) but John McClane is not hugging it out with bad guys. Sure he isn't dropping the curse words every other line but it doesn't hinder his speech, maybe as an older gent he is finding a bit more time to express himself without colorful sentence enhancers.
Justin Long plays his part well, considering he is a nerdy computer hacker who occasionally cracks wise. . . not to say he hasn't been playing something like that before. . .
Bruce Willis obviously went at this seriously and it shows, from his delivery to his physique.
And the direction is good enough to make me want to go back and check out the personally previously shunned "Underworld" movies that Wiseman has directed.
There are of course some problems with the movie but the sheer enjoyment factor makes you supercede those in favor of the many pluses. The villain isn't Alan Rickman but he's also not William Sadler either. One of the best summer flicks in the official summer sequel fest that is 2007.
Though I needed closure on one thing a semi-main villain didn't get his just desserts in the end, he just disappeared in a "I guess the FBI got him" and while a similar type character in the original "Die Hard" was at least punched out by Argyle the limo driver.
One final thing is if you call yourself a true "Die Hard" fan you have to pick up on the FBI agent one liner when John McClane is first dropping off Farrel.
Go see it if you like action, humor and good ole' bad guy butt kicking movie.
UFO - Enemy Unknown (1994)
When computers had the only games worth playing
X-Com is (summarized quickly) a strategy based game. Part Civilization, Part Dungeon & Dragons and with a pinch of movie influence. You start with selecting a base of operations any where in the world. Your base then has the ability to add hangers (for air deployment) living quarters (solider living) and the multitude of science parts necessary to continue the fight against the alien threat. The plot comes down to aliens are attacking and subverting earth. World leaders have gotten together and decide that they cannot defeat this foe individually and must team up. So culling the best of the best from every nation, soldier and scientist to wage a war (unknown to the public) against the alien threat. You start with 8 soldiers and can equip them with various "normal" Terran weapons: rifles, pistols, body armor and such. You also use a monthly funding to buy different/more resources and have scientists to research new/undiscovered technology. Eventually, after each successful encounter you can take alien technology for inspection and hopefully, use against them. The combat is a turn based event with each soldier allotted only so much time units to use. Each action uses time units: moving, reloading and attacking. Fog of war is very active, so a hostile can attack you without you knowing the exact location and can even wipe out several men at the beginning of a campaign if you aren't careful. The only reason I didn't give this game a 10 out of 10 is the fact that it is very daunting in difficulty for the uninitiated. You cannot pop in to this game and expect to win. You have to invest time and patience in it and you cannot have a trooper go "Rambo" and eliminate the enemy because your men also have a "sanity" meter. More deaths on the team can "break" a team member to drop his weapon and flee. The second worst thing is to be two "spaces" away from an adversary and have a soldier miss with his weapon. All troops gain experience so it works in your favor to keep your guys alive. Later in the game you can branch out with bases all over the world and have teams of individuals that have mech-type armor and can fire weapons that can level an entire building in one shot, (almost since the idea that buildings would collapse if the level below them is destroyed didn't make it into the game code.) Overall if you enjoy a science fiction game that has heavy doses of re-playability and you aren't turned off by games that require time then it would be in your best interest in trying to find a copy of it somewhere. You can easily slap in the sequel if you can't find the original but avoid anything after that. The shooter and Apocalypse are pale shadows of what this game is.
Space Quest 6: Roger Wilco in the Spinal Frontier (1995)
Not the Best of the Series
In the past games had many elements that tried to separate them from simple entertainment to actual works to be appreciated. User manuals gave detailed system information and added value to a game besides the now mundane control schematics. One unique thing about this game was the demo. It was not the simple first couple of levels but a truly separate version of the game that you would never see in the "full" game. Roger Wilco is the goofy hero with plenty of pop culture references to satisfy the snark is all of us. While not the dry British humor that is "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" it is a series that needs more recognition. If you only try two games in this series check out the time bending plot line in Space Quest IV and check out this Space Quest VI as well. Between Sierra and Lucasarts the adventure game was tops. One thing is for sure the classic adventure games of the past I do not believe are going to return but it would behoove you to check them out.
Batman Begins (2005)
Nipples and Batman
First I went into this movie with some serious skepticism, based on the fact that I feared a new Batman movie would leave a bad taste that wouldn't be cured by no less than a 10 gallon drum of Listerine. Getting a free ticket, purloined from a PS2 game of the movie, prompted me to see how bad I was going to be feeling. Well, after the trailers I settled in and to my complete and utter surprise was excited and happy of what I just saw. I left feeling, (which has been a rare event at the theaters) thinking about the movie in a sense of almost kid-like awe, replaying certain scenes in my head and wishing I was a billionaire playboy turned criminal vigilante. The supporting players were spot on and even some of the requisite lines of a action movie didn't bother me, (you know playing the old mentor line back on himself). The only thing that really irritated me was that this Batman movie had nipples in it. Now not on the Batsuit, thank god, but on the romantic interest. Yes, in a scene Katie Holmes's character sports a look that isn't assistant d.a. but more assistant pole dancer. This wasn't supposed to be an erotically charged scene and for them to be there was, just unnecessary. I'm sure 13 year old boys will be happy when the DVD version comes out but I say to the sequel (sure I'll see it, even pay this time), let's get Mrs. Cruise some undies.