No matter your religious preference, I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful Winter Holiday season. With plenty of great games are out there, and tons of kick-ass movies to grab up, I hope all of your gift-giving endeavours are wonderfully fruitcake-free. Unless of course you like fruitcake. Then that's a totally different problem and you should probably keep it to yourself. All the best everyone!

-Will-

Mori-Dog Movies / Eternal Rose Entertainment

Holy crap! What the hell? %$#@!

These and far worse phrases have been uttered recently as I made my way through Episode 1 of Lego Star Wars (PS3) and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates (DS). Both games are loads of fun (minus the crappy story of FFCC:RoF) but why make a computer controlled partner dumber than a bag of hammers? I seriously gave up on keeping my party alive in Crystal Chronicles and finished off the final boss on my own (**SPOILER** except for that final moment where you have tocast magic on all 4 rotating circles). Why bother controlling them at all when they're standing around while I do all the work watching me get mybutt whooped? It's like a road construction team. There's always one guy driving the heavy machinery while 3 others stand aroundleaning on theirshovels chatting.

Lego Star Wars(and the rest of the Lego titles) is a different kind of stupidity. Why can't my computer controlled partner kill anything? It'll deflect laser blasts right back at stormtroopers for hours, but it'll never kill them. But, wait! The partner character can be killed off! What a concept! And I can't tell you the frustration Iendured when I fell off a cliff and then respawned on the edge only to be knocked back in againby my bumbling partner whowas stationedright next to my respawn point...over and over and over.Seriously people...if you're going to have computer controlled characters, at least make them competent. They don't have to finish the game for me, but I would likea helping hand from time to time.

As for the Bayonetta demo...wow. Seriously? So many 13 year old boys are going to be looking to get their hands on this game just to see some digital butt cheeks. Too bad the game isn't all it was hyped up to be. I'm sure tons of people are going to argue that it has such a deeply fantastic combo system. Sure it has lots of combo options and it looks fantastic, but it's really just a glorified button-masher. Unfortunately the selling point is going to be the partial nudity. For those who don't know, the girl's clothes are her hair and as she fights, her hair is incorporated into the combos making her outfit more revealing. Had I not known this before playing the demo, I would have thought it was just a glitch in the graphics. The finishing attacks (I guess they're what are referred to as 'climaxes') leave her starkers with a whirlwind of hair (coveringher vital parts) creating gigantic beasts to devour the opponents. While this looks awesome, isn't it a bit degrading? Is this absolutely necessary for a video game? I think I would have enjoyed the demo a bit more if they had left the nudity out. But hell, what do I know? Sex sells...right?

Until next time, be well...all the best...and cheers!

Having recently completed a few games (see my previous blogs for details), I have replaced a few of the cheaper games I had sold in order to pay rent while being unemployed. One such game was Legendary. For those not familiar with it, it's a story about a thief who unleashes mythical beasts from Pandora's Box. Great concept, huh? Damn right. Execution? Eh, not so great. Watching a multi-storied Golem tear apart New York as Griffons swoop in and swallow people off the street is pretty sweet. It's a downhill slope from there. The story is passable at best with double-crosses and secret orders, but what wowed me was that this group actually becomes dependent on the thief. "You're our only hope, Deckard!" Yeah, I really believe this guy would save your sorry butts. In fact, they didn't do a very good job of developing the characters into likeable entities. By the end, I really didn't care what happened, I just wanted to finish it and return it before the 7-days was up (sometimes, buying used from "the evil empire" pays off).

Story issues asside, let's look at gameplay. Standard FPS with a little magic thrown in. Some people called it a "Bioshock Rip-Off". No where near close to that calibur. Yeah, a glowing left hand, but that only serves to send out an electrical pulse and heal yourself. It could only WISH it could be Bioshock. Let's face it, no other FPS can compair to the sheer awesomeness of Bioshock. Yeah, I love that game. But I digress.Legendary isan ok FPS but it amazes me that all of the weapons are almost equal. Headshots were all effective IF you could get the shot. Most of the time the targeting was questionable. Collision detection wasn't much better. Many times I'd leave a werewolf in a crumpled heap with it's head in a wall or in the floor and no way to decapitate it (the only way to finish them off) until it got up again.

Speaking of werewolves, they used a few interesting mythic beasts, but there was opportunity for so much more. When I say 'few', I mean FEW. There are several human soldier types, 3 werewolf types, the irritating little Navis, Firedrakes, blood spiders, Griffons,and an occasional Minotaur.Aside from that, there's only a Kraken boss and...uhm...well, let's face it, I was so bored by the end I forgot howmany enemy types there actuallywere. So much potential, so little execution.

If you get really desperate for entertainment and have a few hours of your life to waste, give it a run. It's not worth keeping in your library, but it's not completely bad. Would have been better if it were a last-gen title, but as a PS3 game, mediocre at best. With a title like "Legendary", you'd think it would try to live up to expectations. "Mythic" would have been a better description.

Up next? Who knows. As I mentioned, I've been trying to replace a few cheap titles and I still have a couplethat I want to complete. I'm considering Alone In The Dark Inferno, Dark Sector, Silent Hill Homecoming, Folklore, FEAR, and others. I did return Legendary and replaced it with Blazing Angels. I really enjoyed it on the 360, but only played about 3 missions. Maybe it's time to take to the skies...

Cheers!

PS: One aditional note...I also completed Loco Roco FINALLY. Just never had the interest in playing through it. I'm also working on the second Professor Layton. Always a good time there.

Hello everyone...my unemployment streak continues, so I'm completing games. Well, what games I have left in my collection that is. So, immediately after finishing Heavenly Sword, I decided it was high time I got started on Prince Of Persia. Considering I've had it since the day it came out,it's probably long past time to check it out. To be honest, I really don't know what to think.It felt more like "Prince Of Pac-Man" to me. The majority of the gameyou collect sparkling light seeds. Look a lot like dots to me. And to collect these "dots", you run all over a maze-like world over and over until you get them all. Then you have 4 main boss characters that show up, one for each section,and they're somewhat "ghosts" of their former selves. Do you see where I'm going with this comparison?

It's not that I didn't enjoy P.O.P. because I couldn't put it down. In fact, I received the "Speed Demon" trophy for completing it in under 12 hours on my first run-through. Mind you, I haven't gotten every last light seed and several other trophies, but I did a fairly decent portion. What really bothered me was the lack of deaths in the game. You could miss a jump and go flailing over a ravine, but Elika is always there to help you out. This makes it feel like there are no consequences for mistakes. Basically, trial and error until you get it right. It makes the game a whole lot less frustrating than it could have been, but dare I say too easy? Especially with there only being a handful of standard enemies, and most of them you could kill with one hit if you found them fast enough. The ending also made me scratch my head. It was a "wow" moment, but really felt more like a way to help sell the DLC epilogue for those who don't like the ending.

Other than minor details, this was quite a good game. The graphics are beautiful and the controls are fairly decent. (I did have a few spots where the prince wouldn't do as he was told.) The puzzles aren't terribly difficult, but the seed locations can get down-right tricky. And even though it only took 12 hours or less to complete, it seemed to be just the right length. Some areas got a little repetitive as did the lack of boss battle variety, but overall,I can highly recommend this, especially for those who loved the POP:Sands Of Time trilogy.Just don't go in thinkingit's gotas much action as the previous titles...this one's more ofa platformingadventuresimilar to the very first POP.

Next on my list? Silent Hill Homecoming has been patiently waiting...there's also Alone in the Dark Inferno and Dark Sector. We'll see what mood hits me in the next few days. All the best everyone, and thanks for stopping by!

Cheers!

So, for Halloween, I stayed inside and played Mirror's Edge all night. I swear, that game has some freakin' irritating controls! It is one of the best looking FPS games I've played in a while (based on cost...can't afford games like Killzone 2 yet) but what were they thinking??? I had so many deaths due to the character not doing what she's supposed to. A lot of it could be from poor hit detection. I'd jump off a ledge instead of wall-running, punch past an officer's face, slide into a rail instead of under it, and the best...jump up and down like an idiot trying to climb a pole in front of my face while being slaughtered from behind by a machine gun 2 buildings away. IT REALLY HAPPENED, FOLKS! I did manage to finish the game though, and what a great story it was. The really disappointing part? The final "boss" battle. I was expecting a big, flash-boom-bang battle, but no. A coupleof quick, simple button presses and it's all over. Quite anti-climactic.I have to say, though,that I really did enjoy it despite it's flaws. I did come up with some colorful language to describe Faith and her clumsy exploits, but it was still worth playing through. Especially since it's under $20 now. Be aware, though, it is only about 8 hours worth of game time unless you look for every secret and trophy.

After completeing Mirror's Edge, I promptly moved on to another female heroine...Heavenly Sword was the whole reason my wife wanted a PS3 (I wanted Uncharted, but that's another story). We've had this game on our shelf since the first douple of days that we had a PS3 and she never finished it. In fact, she never got past the second chapter (but that's pretty far considering there's only 5 chapters...I think there's officially 6 but it's the final boss battle, so it doesn't really count). It was high time I tried out this little gem. First impression; God Of War copy. Upon further play, I still felt the same. Then you get to play as Nariko's little sister, Kai. 3rd person shooting like Resident Evil 4, but with a twist. And what a difficult twist to get used to! I don't always sit straight up while playing video games. I strongly reccommend you do so playing this game. The aftertouch controls on the cannon balls, arrows, etc.can be a bit tricky, and if you're tilting your controllerwhen you let an arrow fly, it'll drop straight to the ground before you realize it. Oh, and the controlls for the targeting are a bit off as well.Not only the controlls, the camera for the whole game can get a bit funky at times too. Especially during boss battles where they change sides suddenly and the camera follows. Those little issues aside, I have to say I was expecting a much more difficult game. Once you figure out the quirks in the controls and get used to the different enemy types, it pretty much a breeze. Until you get to the afore mentioned final boss battle...Talk about a serious screw job! I was not pleased with the final boss at all. Seriously difficult attacks to dodge and/or block, and many times I couldn't tell if I was actually hurting him and if I was successfullyblocking any of his attacks. With much more colorful language and a bit more persistence, I found my way to the end of yet another game. I think my total timewas around 8 hours, so another shorter game, but the beauty of the graphics, solid voice acting,and the interesting story (complete with twists!) make for a really good weekend experience.

So, what's next? I've got a few games en que that I've been itching to play through. We'll see what catches my eye next...Cheers!

Well, here I am. I received an email from one of my blog-followers, retro82, showiing concern for my absence. I guess I have some 'splainin' to do. I looked back and saw that my last update was in January. Wow, what a ride this year has been. Some of you may know that I had started the yearpatiently waiting for word back from theRiverRun International Film Festival, had just found out my wife was pregnant, and wassitting on top of the world with my job as a phlebotomist (that means I draw blood for a living). Life has a great sense of humor. I would break it down month-by-month, but really, I don't remember too much in the way of chronology.

The first part of the year started out ok. I was so looking forward to the film festival. But that didn't keep me from working on other projects. I filmed my second short at the end of January and completed post-production in February, just in time for my good friend's "That's Not Mine!" Film Festival. Letting Go premiered to a small crowd of about 20+ people and seemed to get a decent reaction. Meanwhile, I got a message from RiverRun that my submission, I.M. (Instant Message), was turned down. I did not let that get me down though. In March, I purchased my own Hi-Def camera (from Circuit City's going out of business sale) and filmed my third short, Run, and was asked to direct two other shorts, Home Movies and The Interview. Not a bad way to start the year.

However, Summer began and things slowed down at work. The head of the medical clinic I was working for decided it was time to make some changes. They wanted to bring in a new doctor and, by doing so, needed someone with more experience that they could pay less money to. Know what that means? Laid-off. I've been out of work since the beginning of August. But all is not COMPLETELY horrible...

July 30th, 2009. My daughter, Vanessa Ryanne, is born. It seemed like it took forever to get it over and done with, but she was born at 4:45am, happy and healthy. Her mother and I are exhausted. Don't let anyone fool you. No matter how good a baby is, they are a full-time job with overtime, but worth every minute.

As I said, life has a great sense of humor. As I'm losing my job and having a baby, my landlords decide they need to sell the house we're living in. So began the search for a new home. But wait, there's more. My 12 year old step-daughter has moved in with us. Guess what kind of school district we lived in...I'll give you a hint...it ain't good! So, not only do we have to find a new home, we have to find one zoned for a good school. After weeks of searching, mission accomplished. We moved in the weekend before school started. But, alas, being unemployed means no money. And, if you have ever moved, you will know that moving isn't cheap. That's why I'm sad to report that my game collection has taken a serious nose-dive. I haven't updated my collection list on GameSpot to reflect this yet, but I shall. It's just too painful. What was once an 80-title PSP collection is now down to 35. My PS3 games were in the 60's...now 30-something as well. All of my Xbox 360 titles gone, several GameCube, Wii, DS, and even half of my PS2 games. And the saddest part; I hadn't even playeda majorityof the games I sold.

Oh well...things will only get better. I did have my very first audition for a feature film that will pay EXTREMLY well if I get the role, and I've got a film entered in the Carrboro Film Festival in November. And no matter what I have to sell, I can always get it back. It's only material, right?

Thanks for stopping by. I wish you all the best, and if my update was a bit depressing, I'm sorry. Go watch a few of my films. (www.vimeo.com/moridogmovies) It may make you feel better. Or better about yourself. Who knows. Cheers!

-William Lilly-

Writer/Director/Actor, Mori-Dog Movies. A division of Eternal Rose Entertainment. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3265848/

I hope all of you have a good holiday season of your chosing. I think that covers everyone...:D Oh yeah, and have a great New Year!

Gather around children and friends...it's been a long time since Uncle Will has ranted, and this time it's a doozie. It's not often that I put a deposit on at my local GameStop. I don't because I can't afford to buy a title the day it comes out. I reserve games that I KNOW FOR A FACT will be worth my money regardless of the reviews. Mirror's Edge reminded me again why I wait for the price to go down before buying. I was so hyped about this one...I even played the demo 4 times just because I liked the way it was going. Fourtunate for me, I didn't have the money to pick it up the day it came out. "Why fortunate?" you ask? Because the day I went to pick up Prince Of Persia, they had a used copy of Mirror's Edge. Hmmm...which to pick up? Limited Edition of Prince Of Persia or save $10 buying the used Mirror's Edge? What an ordeal! However, I did not choose wisely (or did I? I'll come back to that...). Mirror's Edge won out being the practical choice at the lower price, and I now see why it was traded already. So here begins my latest rant; "10 minutes with..." (*And for the record, I do spend more than 10 minutes with the game...it's just a title I like to use.*)

Mirror's Edge (PS3) - What a beautiful game! What a beautiful concept! What horrendous gameplay! I think this would be a lot better if you could map out the buttons to your liking. I use the shoulder buttons for weapon switching or firing in my FPS titles. Not for jumping or ducking. And definately not on the L1 and L2 buttons! Hell, it's rare that I ever use those buttons! There are a few different set-ups, but without customizable controls, it feels a bit awkward. And we'll just jump right into the game's responsiveness...those 2 buttons are all you really need to get around with, aside from the control sticks. L1 is the "up" command (i.e. - jump, wall run, climb up) and L2 is the "down" command (crouch, slide) which first of all makes Faith (the main character) sound like a dog, but the game uses those two buttons in context with the environment. If you are running towards a wall, L1 will either have you climb up it or do a wall-run depending on the angle you approach it. Pipes or vent shaft in your path? L2 will have you sliding under them, or crounch and crawl under depending on the speed you travel towards the obstacle. Either way, it's all about the context. And a number of times I got to a ledge that required a wall-run and Faith would jump right off the ledge to her death. 17 times at that one ledge to be exact. The trial-and-error gameplay really takes the fun out of this title. I liked having to explore a bit and find my path across rooftops, but stopping dead in your tracks while cops are gunning you down and having to look around screaming "Where the hell am I supposed to go now?!?!" is not my idea of fun. This happened too many times. And if you should decide to stand and fight said cops, be ready for more frustration. R2 is the "attack" button, where as the R1 button will turn you 180 degrees. Far too often I would bump the R1 button as I was fighting and then get shot in the back. And don't thinkk you can just 180 yourself right back into the fight. No, for some reason there is a delay when you hit R1 until the next time you can hit R1. Frustrations aside, the game is fairly easy and quite short. I had it on "Normal" difficulty and within 12 hours of purchasing the game (including driving time, dinner at a fancy resturaunt, and 5 hours of sleep) I had completed a little more than half of the game with about 15% of the trophies without even trying. I finally had enough of the response issues and screaming at the TV, so I packed it up with the reciept and returned it. Maybe when the price comes down to about $20 I'll grab it up again, but in the meantime, I returned it for...

Resistance 2 (PS3) - Now that's what I'm talking about! Give Faith an Auger and send her across rooftops...that would have made Mirror's Edge a better game! I digress. As of writing this, I have not had an opportunity to play Resistance 2 more than just the public online beta a few weeks ago, but that was enough for me. And add a 2-player co-op story mode...hell yeah! I'm looking forward to dropping this one in later today. I was impressed with the detail and gameplay of the first, and this one looks and plays even better. My one big complaint though...I don't like being limited to 2 weapons. I liked having access to more guns. That's what made Goldeneye 64 better than Halo in my book...well, one of the things, but again I digress.

Legendary (PS3) - Give Faith an Auger and chase her with gigantic Griffons across rooftops! It just keeps getting better! Seriously though, Legendary has seen nothing but horrible reviews. Hell, the game just came out November 4th and it's already been dropped from $60 to $30. I watched this one for a while before it's release and then forgot about it, but then I saw the box in the store last night and figured I'd give it a run. Mythic monsters can't be all bad right? Right. The game surprised me. I went in thinking that it would be absolutely horrible, but it wasn't. It's not the best thing to happen to FPS titles, but it certainly isn't the worst. (Mirror's Edge isn't either...I think Judge Dredd: Dredd vs. Death has taken that spot and firmly planted itself for some time now.) You won't find any outstanding new concepts here...and many will compare the healing process to Bioshock. (You have a glowing left hand that collects energy from fallen monsters to be used as health or a powerful blast. It's not as bad as I just made it sound...it works with the story.) Some have said that it's not very "next-gen" in terms of graphics. I think it's on par with or better looking than The Darkness. But then again, I've only played the first chapter of each, so who knows what the later levels hold. It could be all white rooftops with splashes of color here and there trying to look artsy like Mirror's Edge. Now, see...I shouldn't have said that. That's just unfortunate that I would go and digress and talk bad about Mirror's Edge again. Not to worry Faith, Legendary's main character can't jump for s#!* either.

Wow, this is getting to be long...let's hurry through the rest of my list before I spend all my gaming time today on typing. Here goes...

007: Quantum Of Solace (PS3) - Holy S#!* a new Bond game! And it's fantastic! Now if I could just stop screaming obsceneties at my online opponents and play the main game...

Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway (PS3) - Bought it on-sale for Black Friday. Haven't touched it yet. Looks like Quantum Of Solice set in WWII so I should love it.

Orange Box (PS3) - Yes, I'm one of 2 people that still hasn't played it. I tried out Half-Life 2 on the 360 and loved it, but I wasn't ready to shell out $60. Once I found it for $20 on the PS3 it was a no-brainer. But now I can't stop playing Quantum Of Solace long enough to try it out.

Kane & Lynch (X360) - Clearance at Target for $7.50 I couldn't pass it up. This game is so bad it's fun. I started the co-op with my wife (which sucks because it's vertical split-screen so you can see absolutely nothing) then my cousin took over for her about 2 chapters in and we laughed our a**es off. How is that possible? The dialogue is so awful that we started making up our own to go along with it. Besides, reviving your buddy with a hypodermic needle to the groin (or other fun locations depending on where and how they happen to be lying) is always good for a juvinile laugh. But it's definately no James Bond...

The Simpsons (PS3) - Like playing the tv show, and just as dull. I wasn't much of a Simpsons fan, but I grabbed it up because it is 2 player co-op. Bad news though, it's vertical split-screen again. It is good as a beautiful platformer though, and show junkies will enjoy the humor, but for the rest it's just mediocre.

Scene It (X360) - So much better than the board game version, and a bit better than the Buzz Hollywood Quiz (PS2), mostly because the announcer isn't as lame. Maybe Buzz was responsible for the gameplay on Mirror's Edge...ZING!

Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party (Wii) - Bwaaaaah! But seriously, I can't get enough of the Rabbids. I know every game is the same as the first, but they are so stupid it's addictive.

Rock Band/Rock Band 2 (PS3) - We got the Rock Band 2 bundle for the family for the holidays, and grabbed a used copy of Rock Band 1 to have all the available songs without spending a fortune in the online store. The first 10 minutes I spent with RB2? Trying to get the damn thing out of the box and put together. I'll play it later...

Ok, I think that sums up the last 2 months. Lots of games, but no real time to play them. Oh hell...I didn't even mention any handhelds! That'll have to wait until next time.

Cheers!

Hi everyone...I've been busier than a one-legged-man in a butt-kicking contest (no offense to my one-legged-friends) so I haven't had time to stop in and say hello, but here I am. Hello! Happy Holidays to you all. I've got my daughter this week so I'm not doing as much gaming as I want but that hasn't stopped me from racking up a few good scores. Currently, I'm getting my rear handed to me in online matches of Quantum Of Solace, I'm looking forward to downloading Street Fighter HD, and I've finally figured out the trick to blazing through mission 3 of Metal Slug Advance. Sad ain't it? I've got so many games I haven't finished yet, and no money to buy new ones (apparantly I'm supposed to be buying stuff for other people this time of year :roll: :D) so I'm catching up on a few titles. I hope everyone has a good Turkey Day, and to all my friends who don't celebrate American Thanksgiving, Happy Thursday. And with that, I'm off...

Cheers everyone!

What a freakin awesome couple of weeks it's been...new job, more money, new wife, I did blow a tire out at 75 MPH, but I did manage to keep us safe and the car unwrecked, but new tires on the car, and more importantly, NEW GAMES! I got the SingStar titles for my wife (PS2 & 3) because I found an awesome deal at Target, Bourne Conspiracy, Star Wars Force Unleashed, Mega Man 9, Silent Hill Homecoming, and Beta versions of Little Big Planet, Socom Confrontation, AND Resistance 2. A wel deserved gaminng weekend is about to begin!

Hope you are all well

Cheers!