Well, it's been a little while since my last posting so, I figured that this could go up, Ibeat 'R&C: Going Commando'again (for the3rd time) and now I'm beating the original. I'll havea suprise reviewcoming up soon enough for you folksbut until then, enjoy this quick movie review:

Superhero movies have a tendency of being difficult to adapt to the big screen because they have so many details from their comic side that they have to cut a bunch out to fit a sizable screening time, but they alsorarely take placein our world so it's sometimes difficult to associate onesort ofcause and effect from them with us.

Watchmen has that issue somewhat as well, there are some strange portions about it. But for a movie that has been in the planning for 20 years, its alright. In this envisioning of Earths' timeline, superheroes have been growing up with us for quite some time and they are now starting to lay themselves to rest, in the 1980's. Meanwhile, USA and USSR (remember, this is theold Russia) are verging onnuclear war. And so something must be done as the movie explores their pasts and attempts to get those that are left back into action.

The issues with watchmenare that there is a really lot of time spent with backgrounds, too much to be told and it runs 3 hours. There honestly should have been some portions cut out, there's no true villain which always sucks, and the musical queues that come along are a bit out of place and silly. As for the pro's, the backgrounds are good for a while, it has solid production valuations, captures the comic feel pretty well, has some really violent gore and excellent action sequences, and a little bit of dry humor for relief.

Overall, I'd rent it; it's a good compromise for a fan movie with enough approachability for general audiences though it isn't anything special.

7/10

TWiSTEDmerc

For the past while, I've been watching a very hysterical series of episodes called AVGN over at Gametrailers. What is AVGN; it's Angry Video Game Nerd, nerdy gamer plays almost soul breakingly bad games and shows them to us while swearing abruptly and vigorously about / at the game. He reviews them, but keeps them fairly entertaining with some video game character cameos, humor, his reactions, commitment to beating the games, and attitude.

Now I know that sounds fairly segmented, but that's how he reviews the game, words cannot describe without significant amounts of thought, his manner of review. I wouldn't call it random, but I would call it witty, funny, and relatable to gamers. His reviews also have an excellent amount of appeal, just listen to him rant about a game once and you should understand.

Want to give AVGN a try, just click on the Screwattack channel at Gametrailers and go exploring into the world of the nerd, where loads of horrible games are just waiting to be opened:

-Remember that terrible SUPERMAN 64 game; you don't know how much fun it can be when the nerd explores the world of Damn Rings. Rings, in a SUPERMAN game!?

-You may have heard of the CD-i being bad, but how bad was it? The nerd knows and shows, it's funny as is, but even better did you know that there were Zelda and Mario games buried in its doomed console that got excavated too?

-Remember the SEGA CD or maybe the 32X? Lots of people probably did but there's one person in particular that remembered it very well and will show the many ways of how these consoles SUCK!!!

There's lots more available but I personally, just wanted to share with you a small sample of the many awful games and consoles the nerd has explored and deserves a thank you for. So why not check them out?

TWiSTEDmerc

Well, I've been thinking about this feature and I have decided that it is clear for takeoff, I'll post some predictions for what will happen this year, not much new gaming wise happened, I replayed GTA III and actually beat it (turns out I was real close to beating it last time I left off), I found Resident Evil 0 and bought it, and for the first time ever, I found Legend of Zelda (I've been mainly beside SONY as a gamer) but not by purchasing a Wii or another old console, but by finding it available to download, just type in Legend of Zelda download @ Google, on the first page should be a site that has it there for free. Any way's back to the predictions, I left the portable systems and stuck with the big 3 cause this is a bit of a late entry.

Wii: Hardcore gamers will be able to rest at ease that a new ZELDA or KID ICARUS is coming and be able to settle well with the Conduit, though its target will surely limit sales. Casual gamers; Madworld will be this year's No More Heroes, Pikmin 3 will be crafted more towards easy accessibility than difficult, complicated messes, the new house of dead will be a popular game but lack in sales because most will just rent it, Wii Sports Resort will sell well, better than all other titles because it utilizes motion plus controls (like a cheap and easy upgrade, everyone wants one), and with such ease to get out to consumers, it will be within most any Wii gamers catalogue that still wants their Wii games. Motion plus will temporarily extend the Wii's unique motion controls because it will allow for a new means of motion capture control that were otherwise not capable prior. Deadly Creatures is either gonna satisfy gamers of all ages fairly well or destroy their hopes. THQ, this one really, really needs strong production values if it wants to hold the interesting web it's strung together.

PS3: The exclusive games will sell well enough and build up SONY's portfolio of excellent exclusives to catch up on Microsoft console sales. When new gamers on the PS3 arrive with each new exclusive they've been waiting for, they'll realize that SONY has been funding multiple games up the Yazoo to the point of near overwhelm, and realize that solid gaming experiences are vast and continuously going up, out and beyond. They will realize that the XBOX 360 is a better console that's built around the gaming experience and not have many or exactly the best exclusives. As you can see it's an endless cycle, but a good cycle so there isn't really much noteworthy to see, SONY does its thing every year and has at least kept me very interested.

XBOX 360: If a red ring of death, laying-off Ensemble, lacking in this year's exclusives department, not really announcing much new rings any bells, guess what's happening? A new console!!! 360 started in November of 2005, it's heading for year 4, and the old XBOX barely squeezed out 4 years before the 360 came. Microsoft has done allot of great stuff for the XBOX 360 but it's now time to let the other guys show off all their might, DLC (everyone), Call of Duty - MW2 (Infinity Ward), Mass Effect 2 (EA), another Guitar Hero (Activision), and the list goes on. See, the Xbox 360 is popular enough with what it has to just breeze by this year and maybe holler HALO 3.5 to make wondrous gamers looking for the next new thang confident that, "Oh yeah, they got that new --------- coming, I can't wait for it, it totally makes up for the fact that for every 1 exclusive game that comes to 360, 2.5 come to PS3, still XBOX 360 rulez and PS3 Sux!" Maybe that got a little sidetracked but that's just what I hear allot just staring one way and being completely oblivious to any other. I only have one prediction for Microsoft, they will announce their New Xbox at E3, I'd figure it launches in late 2010 with these basic facts:

-It takes 3 years for Bungie to develop a Halo game (not counting sub ventures like ODST) last release, September 2007

-It takes 2 years for Epic Games to develop a Gears game last release, November 2008

-That should mean that both of those games hit in late 2010, and what would be a better way to start off a console launch, 2 of Microsoft's most praised series hitting it off both as launch titles to drive gamers straight into the Next Gen Xbox.

AND HERE'S ONE OTHER LITTLE EXTRA THAT I DECIDED TO JUST THROW IN

Unexpectedly big seller for the year:

Ghostbusters, not very noticed by media but there's allot of nostalgia and gamers that grew up with Ghostbusters and we know that media isn't really expecting it to be anything big, Activision sure didn't.

Unexpectedly poor seller for the year:

HALO 3: ODST, because there's no Master Chief, games that don't get that full $60 price tag make people think its missing something fairly relevant, Microsoft can milk halo all it wants but the chief is in charge and when he's not around, nobody is. That and nobody know what ODST stands for; maybe it's, Oh Don't Start Talking about it.

TWiSTEDmerc

Hello fellow Gamespotters;

I have been gone for a while now haven't I? Well, TWiSTEDmerc has been busy with his final exams, Christmas, New Years, and college fee payments but no worries, that's all out of the way now and I have finally finished writing up some rather large reviews. I recently decided to pick up a Gamecube, why? I liked RE 4 so much that I wanted to find out what happened before so I finally decided that since it wasn't going to cost too much (only $80, and because I couldn't find the PS1 titles anywhere else – even at a cryptic old videogame / Movie rental store that has Genesis's, NES's, ATARI's and a load of other old gaming items). If there is one thing I'd like to say about the Gamecube is its game boxes, what's with all these extra pieces of plastic attached inside a game box, there's enough stable plastic sealing to hold an especially frail and valuable item, and what's with the hole in the game box? There's a 1 cm2 hole that I can only think is for air circulation – but that's a real long shot. And if I say one thing about Resident Evil, "It's the scariest game I've ever played" – and I am not lying at all. This game apparently has multiple endings and 2 playable characters so it will be a while before I review this game. I don't intend to get any other Gamecube titles except Resident Evil 0, 2, 3, and maybe Eternal Darkness as I still fully intend to get my PS3 in not long. What's even more troublesome? I will gladly pick up the other mainstream RE titles (though Code Veronica X, and Outbreak are out for now) and I know that RE 2 came to the PS1, PC, GC, & N64 though I haven't seen it on anywhere, until when I bought RE1, as I headed towards the back exit, I passed the N64 cartridges and saw… RE2, BLASTED!!! I know that a GC can't play N64 games and I really don't want to buy another old console, but boy-oh-boy do I want to play RE2 as well so what do I do, wait and see if I find RE2 (and of course RE3) on a console I own or through down what I'm guessing to total no more than $50? Please help me, this is a real problem, "Oh, and now let's get on to the next big feature:"

-YEAR in REVIEW-

So personally, this year was super whacky, companies made some miraculous turn arounds (ATARI) while others had a good last year but problems in their system this year really started to show (EA). SONY's PSP started off by kicking off 2 triple A games in early 2008, so good that some people who had originally abandoned their PSP and sold it off wanted it back, the PSP had a couple of other great games announced and released but the area was a little barren, SONY did release the PSP-3000 this year though. PS3 grew on and caught up close to what the XBOX 360 is now doing and pumped out some great exclusives, though it appears now that SONY will be the only publisher supporting its exclusive titles which isn't bad, but SONY is the only company doing work exclusively for the PS3, everyone else is just readying their PS3 & XBOX 360 games. On a high note, it seems that developers have had enough experience so that when they release oh say Bioshock, it will release on all consoles simultaneously and not need additional time to get to the PS3. The PS2 got some ports of otherwise only on PSP games, and a couple of other big whoppers like Guitar Hero: World Tour, LEGO Indiana Jones, Persona 4, etc even though it's time to go is nearly here. The PC was given that scary news flash of no more exclusives from CRYTEK and abundant piracy issues but 3 big MMORPGs were released, a Diablo III announcement, Sins of a Solar Empire releasing and the PC market still getting in with the big games (GTA IV, FALLOUT 3, CoD WW, etc). MICROSOFT did improved they're console a bit, but they had actually a good number of exclusives, XBOX Live has become a bit more desirable with the release of Braid, Bionic Commando, Megaman 9, and Castle Crashers. And every 360 could go nuts for their exclusive Ninja Gaiden II, Fable II, and Gears of War 2, but 2009 for MICROSOFT looks drab for the oldest of the 3 mainstream consoles. Nintendo's Wii had a great start with No More Heroes, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Mario Kart Wii, and Wii Fit, and console sales pushed past 2 million in Thanksgiving. Though as the year went on things got quiet, and disappointing with the forgettable Super Mario Sluggers, and the toy-more-than-game Wii Music seeing horridly low sales, Warioland: Shake It! and Animal Crossing: City Folk, did help a little but the other developers and publishers gave the Wii some help with World of Goo, Bloom Box, etc. And the Nintendo DS once again had a load of games arrive with enough good ones to keep masses of gamers happy, and the announcement of a DSi. So there you go, Happy New Year…

FINAL GRADE

B+

REVIEWS:

BULLY: An excellent game deserves a solid recommendation, my review is right here.

MERCENARIES 2: WORLD IN FLAMES: Mercs 2 is by far a critical disappointment, you can only expect the player to tolerate so much, here's the review.

THE SIMPSONS GAME: Homer, "Now Bart, if I wanted to play a game, I would have picked up one that I mocked because mine is just OK… D'oh!"

TWiSTEDmerc

I have been watching the sales of consoles for the past while, thanks to Gamespot but I always see the Wii selling more than any other console, they have already sold about 35 million units. So I figured, what will the Wii not outsell? Nintendo has already surpassed the PS3 and XBOX 360 but I bet that the PS2 will still end up having more sales. Rumour has persisted about the next Wii arriving in 2011, however, the PS2 is still selling a little bit and it has sold 140 million units. Now I figure that the Wii is gonna sell bannanas untill roughly, a little after the next Nintendo console and probably should sell between 80-100 million units but, who knows so what do think, is the Wii gonna break the sales records of even the PS2, feel free to gie your opinion.

PS: -I finally beat God of War, on GOD MODE!!! It was hell but I stumbled along this little youtube video a while back. I figured the guy that pulled it off was really lucky, I finally decided to put it to the test, and it whopped the clones to death. The finalle battle is actually the hardest of all three parts because of this strategy. Never-the-less the rest of the adventure to get there made was as tough as nails (I nearly snap my controller in half) Bye.

TWiSTEDmerc

Back in August, I for the first time picked up Resident Evil 4. To be brief, I was pretty awestruck, (no review just yet but there will be a few arriving soon). Just before school started, I picked up Mercenaries 2: World in Flames for PS2 and to be honest, I was... ENRAGED!!! It's not significantly bad but let's just say that graphics, and co-op weren't the only things missing. I get very angry when people aren't honest with me and lets just say that oh, about 30% of the content on the PS2 is not there compared to the XBOX 360, PS3 and PC versions, which I wasn't expecting at all. The game is also a bit clunky.

Why did RE4 get mentioned, well I have become so greatly pleased by RE4, and so frustrated by MERCs2 that I have torn down my past user icon and replaced him with Leon Scott Kennedy. As you might expect, this does mean that I will purchase RE5 soon, but I've already decided to also purchase RE1-3 (I'm a newcomer to the series).

As for that Alone in the Dark game, RE4 has been too fun to go back to but I intend to review it as well since it managed to meet my expectations (enough) good for ATARI.

TWiSTEDmerc

Over so much time Gamespot has done many video reviews, most of them get to the point, but sometimes, while they get to the point, they also provide a bevy of laughs along the way so, let's laugh with the few successors and laugh at the failures that figured they could rip us off!

#10 - Sniper: Path of Vengeance

Craig Beers Public service announcement is all that is needed by anyone to understand, in fact he doesn't even load up any gameplay footage but the message is clear and hysterical.

#9 - Rebel Trucker: Cajun Blood Money

Alex Navarro's translation of trucker language and presentation for this game are laugh-out-loud funny though this game is laughable.

#8 - Tom Clancy's The Sum of All Fears

The intro does a big, loud laugh, what horrid grammar and how well Jeff's reactions are as Ryan explains the games numerous major malfunctions.

#7 - 24: The Game

There has never been better urgency resulting in comedy as Alex goes to the point of becoming hostile in trying to review another half okay show to game.

#6 - Gods and Generals

Andrew Park shows a game that already is funny to look at even funnier by referring to soldiers behaving as clones and the clones extremely questionable tactics.

#5 - WarioWare Inc.: Mega MicroGame$

In trying to mimic the games hyperactive, maddeningly funny, addictive nature; a slew of Gamespot Editors explain the game while as if seemingly almost going crazy by the games nature.

#4 - Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing

The lowest ranked game of all time was also a top contender as one of the most memorable, absolutely disastrous games ever built. It is considered by some to be a masterpiece of failure and, to quote the game, "You're Winner!"

#3 - Terminator 3: War of the Machines

The Let's GameSpot trivia robot lays down the law and makes you laugh; simple, pure humor.

#2 - Gravity Games Bike: Street Vert Dirt

Jeff proves that you will have more fun with anything else than this game and provides the only way to have any fun with it, by watching his review.

#1 - Navy SEALs: Weapons of Mass Destruction

Woo-Hoo! Look at those dummies and the very poofy blood splatter, #1 in my book.

Honorable Mentions

Arthur's Quest: Battle for the Kingdom

Though simply not enough to make a top video review, some may like it allot.

Superman 64 [user video review]

Very funny video review polished with good fan made humor; it only didn't make my top favorite video reviews because it was not made by Gamespot.

Robocop [video feature]

A must see for all, terrifically funny and likely ranks as the best video I've ever seen on Gamespot.

Ninja Bread Man [IGN video review]

Likely IGNs funniest video review; poor Bozon, he said all he really could say but what a joy it is to watch.

TWiSTEDmerc

Since I was on holidays last week in a remote location of northern ontario with internet connection that lasted one day and then quit, I was entirely out of access from gamespot and I was angry. Before my holidays I had exams and now I have been shooting as many zombies in Resident Evil 4 as possible. I actually only picked up Resident Evil 4 a week ago, I was so stupid at thinking that I wouldn't like it because I hadn't played the others, I love it! And I want to get it done before Mercenaries 2 hits, I'm gonna be out of internet for the next few days too while I go to my grandparents but I got some more stuff out for you:

Knytt

Knytt managed to be one of the most unique experiences I could have found, it was alright at taking care of the technicals, but it needed less backtracking so, I gave it an 8.5 (Click title to view review).

Solitaire

While solitaire is great a card game, it seemed like somebody just wanted to make this on the computer and not consider sprucing it up at all, it makes the game very boring after a few runs but the game itself drives you back again and again for more rounds (Click title to view review).

Super Mario Bros. Deluxe

If I'm correct, longest review yet. It's extensive because the game is important, really important in the videogame industry and I have given it the best sendoff I can (Click title to view review).

TWiSTEDmerc

Ladies & Gentlemen, it brings me great pleasure to bring to you something that every single gamer has experienced boss battles. They are in lots of games, not all but most of them are quite difficult, which is why, I have decided to compile my...

TOP 10 TOUGHEST BOSS BATTLES OF ALL TIME!

I also included videos links for each battle, now I am not as good as the most of these players (that's right I'm not the one playing these videos, I did them before) but they sure help get my description for each across, enjoy:

----------------10 - Cyber Errol----------------

Defeating Errol (from Jak 3) in his menacing machine was enough, you have the task of shooting his ground supports but he moves very quickly, fires weapons and could crush you to bits, once you beat him, your thumbs had gotten their workout.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvwmsAcCJf8&feature=PlayList&p=996DBEECA2AF6234&index=60

------------------9 - Gregorov------------------

While the player seen here makes the battle very easy, Gregorov couldn't be killed, though he could shoot you in the head, he also patrols very dangerously and will track you if you fire off. If you were hiding at a corner and tried electrocute him with your taser, he'd shoot you right in the head!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-VYDSzzxkM

-------------------8 - Rathalos-------------------

The Rathalos is difficult because of mainly its ease to trip you over and break an attack, while very powerful; the camera, time it takes to interchange between moves and environmental makes the battle very difficult, especially for those offline.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u38tMZVed4o

---------------------7 - Zeus---------------------

Like some other bosses, if you made a mistake you sometimes really got allot of damage, making a mistake against Zeus granted almost certain death, especially with the button specific sequences and you had to use this second rate sword at some points when you could have used your more effective Blades of Athena.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f85bMvhH5mo

-------------6 - The Sisters of Fate-------------

This battle demanded quick reaction timing; you had to be fast in order to last. It is also a very long battle that would keep on killing you and I didn't really want to kill the sisters, they are actually quite beautiful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mp80Iw3-HY&NR=1

------------------5 - Darktooth------------------

The most difficult opponent of all Twisted Metal, Darktooth is scary! He is very strong and loves ramming / stomping and just when you think it's over... There's one last big surprise, so remember to pause the game as there is a password so that you can go directly at him and avoid the other opponents.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyoqZAXh3vY

-----------------4 - Anubis Rex-----------------

For the second boss of six, Pacmans Anubis Rex ranked second hardest in the whole game. The stage is a little walking trail at first but then it becomes a very dangerous multilevel platforming challenge. For other games this guy would have been a real BADASS final boss (Anubis Rex doesn't come until the end of this movie).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFfwH2PvCLo&feature=related

---------------3 - The Minotaur---------------

This guy came from GOD MODE, you would take allot of damage from him, he demands gnarly grind perfection in order to win so unless your amazingly fast with your fingers, don't try to pull off anything fancy because I'm a cautious gamer and he took 40 tries to finally kill.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_xbbD7RgCg

---------------2 - King Galaxian---------------

The third or middle game boss of Pacman restricted you from passing, unless you destroyed him. Now I can understand how a middle game boss should be difficult, but this guy is well beyond his placing, he shouldn't be a middle boss, he shouldn't even be a final boss. This 50+ tries is one teeth grinding, temper tantrum causing, controller breaking prick he should not exist! And the damn camera still feels very stupidly placed as you've gotta dodge, shoot, and keep your eyeballs glued to what's happening as if you got to level 100 on Space Invaders! (King Galaxian doesn't come until the end of this movie).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-J43uIsM8g

-----------------1 - The Clones-----------------

Great GOD MODE Almighty! This boss battle is actually the second part of a three portion final boss battle. But this second part is the toughest (according to gamers) and it itself is well beyond what was before us. You must face off against a massive number of your clones, while also keeping your family from dying. The shear amount of clones you face off guarantee that you will be outnumbered all the way through it and you are gonna die allot, you'll likely not even want to play it after a while as you will lose confidence and it is a rage enduing Boss Battle as I got so damn close and I can't get past them!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loSNbPKsTb0

SPECIAL TRIBUTE:

------SUPER MARIO BROS. Deluxe------

Super Mario Bros. Deluxe is the game I have put the most effort into. I have spent at least 100 maybe 500 hours trying to get everything. Only a couple of days ago did I get every metal which also reminds me of the Super Mario Bros. For Super Players which is, between Pacman 20th Anniversary Edition the hardest game I have ever beaten. Thanks for reading.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgcW82g1de8

TWiSTEDmerc

Well folks, one month from today, Mercenaries 2: World in Flames is going to be out. And I am going to buy it, but I have been considering that after I get it, review it and so forth that I may change my user image. Currently I'm thinking of a Twisted Metal character or Kratos because they both have upcoming titles. Should I still keep my original user image or should I change it?