Weekly game/movie/book/album analysis

READ THIS BEFORE POSTING:

The premise is simple - every week on a Saturday or Sunday (or maybe a Friday/Monday if you know you can't make it on a Sunday or Saturday), you'll talk about a bit of media (that being a video game, a movie or TV series, a book or a music album) that you've been experiencing throughout the week. Please actually make an attempt to describe it - one or two paragraphs will suffice. It's best if you've been at it for 2 or so days, to let it sink in.

It'd also be nice if you guys talked about each others' analyses.

Yes, yes I'm a day late, sue me.

Tai-Pan by James Clavell

Disclaimer: I love the Asian Saga by Clavell and on most days I would probably rank him as my favorite author. Tai-Pan the second book (both chronologically and in terms of when it was written) in his epic Saga is pure Clavell, and by that I mean everybody is attempting to get over on somebody else; whether it's to raise their social standing or increase their funds. The differences between English culture and that of the Chinese are fascinating, and like always he doesn't attempt to present one side as being superior to the other.

The story is summarized as being about the founding of Hong Kong but that description barely scratches the surface. The novel really is more interested with its characters and their motivations, and as it just so happens Hong Kong happens to play a huge part in all of their schemes. Almost every character is out to improve their standing yet despite this Clavell manages to avoid making anybody seem two dimensional.

Honestly Tai-Pan is a book that must be read for its themes to be fully understood and appreciated. I recommend it to everybody whether they've got an interest in Eurasian history or not. It is simply a cut above the rest of the historical fiction genre, and the novels greatest strength is its ability to make Dirk Struan (the titular Tai-Pan) a sympathetic figure, when in lesser hands he could of come off as an ass who desires nothing but power. It might not match the sheer brilliance of Clavells magnum opus Shogun, but it does blow almost everything else almost clear out of the water.

Forgot about this thread. I think this film was last weekend but I figured it'd be fun to talk about.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (3D):

My previous experience in going to see a film in 3D was awful *coughavatarcough* so I was quite curious as to how 3D could work out in reviving a film that I guess is slowly rolling into the
"older" films category. It seems to be one of the least liked in the series from what I can tell and it didn't help that the rest of the audience was children and their parents.

But you know what? It was the most enjoyable cinema experience I've had since I can remember. I'd forgotten the fantastic set of one-liners in the first film that give it the edge in terms of dialogue. And to compliment that, for the most part the acting is great too. And we should all know that the plot is the start of the story as far as the films are concerned and is engaging enough throughout (unlike the second film). I hadn't watched the film in years and I must admit it brought back a lot of fond memories.

And the cinema experience did a couple of things for it . Has anyone heard lightsabers with BASS? Now I don't know if they changed anything from when it was originally on the silver screen but the sounds they made were amazing. As for the 3D I liked the inclusion of it. Unlike Avatar where I forgot it was in 3D after the first couple of hours, it was clear throughout and to be honest it's made me want to see all the Star Wars films in 3D. In this case I thought sound and visual combined really well together and gave the film that fresh edge you'd want to see having spent a load of money to see something that already came out years ago.

And yes, I may review the film soon - HP1 comes first though... and perhaps that whole series.

Dark Moor, I have to disagree with you almost completely there.

I will admit that it looks very coloful and nice, but also very outdated - if I didn't know any better, I thought it was made in 2006.

The story doesn't start slowly... because it never truly starts. Half the time, I forgot that there was even a story in the first place.

The quests were little more than fetching things like an errand boy. Perhaps there were a few where you got to explore (similar looking) dungeons and defeat waves of enemies or bosses

The combat is far from well executed. It looked like it could use a few more combos, as well as an additional button. I get that it's a PC game that requires mouse input for physical and magical attacks, but at the same time, would it not make sense to add a bit more? Combat began to get redundant after the 5 hour mark, and it's a 30 or so hour long RPG. Unlike Skyrim, which has the luxury of a large world, or The Witcher, which seems to have more up its sleeve in terms of combat (and good content), Kingdoms Of Amalur relied on its combat. If you were to put two and two together, I believe that it fails. I may do a review of it shortly - it's been a while haha

I suppose this passes as an analysis.

quote Dark Moor

All is forgiven because you're actually using this thread (hint hint everybody else).

guess I got two sets for you guys. oh joy

Assassin's Creed 1
Mainly playing because I just bought Assassin's Creed 2, but really, it is a good game. The story does pretty much slow down to a crawl after a little while and I'm pretty sure it'll be like that until the end of the game. Not to mention that it's baffling how you're given such basic things at a slow pace - I understand giving you new weapons in increments, but I would've loved to have had a dodge option much earler than after a bit into the fourth memory (out of seven, I might add). Some of the informant missions are butt*bleep*ingly shit when it's so easy to get discovered, so you'd think to be slow and sneaky, but oh shit, you're on a *bleep*ing time limit! DENIED! But other than that, it's a fun game and really, all that sucks is the story.

Oh, and *bleep* the Animus. Should've went through with just letting us play as Altair because so far, I see literally no reason to play as Desmond. What's that, all will be revealed at the end of the game? oh ok cool whatever

Arbitrary score: 8/10

Rayman Origins
It's one of those games that has such beautiful graphics and yet it controls so smoothly. Getting a smooth "get all of the Lums" run down is just a lot of fun and is so *bleep*ing addicting. The soundtrack is also pretty *bleep*ing tits. At its core, it's some quirky platformer soundtrack, but when you listen to each song for a while (which you will if you want to get your run down), you notice that they're really quirky and sound real *bleep*in tits. Great game. *bleep* Skyrim, THIS is GOTY 2011.

Arbitrary score: 9/10


EDIT - oh wow, I rated Assassin's Creed 1 that highly? Having played through more of it and finishing it, I noticed that it got lazier, shittier and just... wow, what kind of ending was that!?

I guess it falls to me to bump this.

Tarzan II:

First thing's first: this title is a lot more recent than I thought it would've been. Anyway, plot-wise it's a pretty basic film. There are a lot of films where someone runs away from home and so the family goes out to look for them. Some of them manage to make it interesting, an example being Stuart Little. Tarzan II really has nothing outside the discovery of a new world so-to-speak and a supposed monster roaming about it. Don't get me wrong, I watched it all the way through and it's not a bad plot, it just doesn't add anything special to give it that edge you'd like to see on a storyline told so many times.

On the other hand, the visual and audio side of it is great. It looks really good, especially all the panning across the various settings. Tarzan's hair is weird but the apes have some amusing designs going for them. And it has that music that draws you in and you want to learn the lyrics to each song. I have the feeling I know who the male vocalist is but I don't know the name. And the voice acting is the same level of decency you've come to expect from Disney.