Showing posts with label monkey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label monkey. Show all posts
Friday, 1 April 2011
NEWS: The Hangover 2 Trailer
Have a look at this and tell me what you think?
Maybe it's just me but I watched this and thought it looks really, really shit. Firstly, it looks exactly the same as the first one in that it's about a marriage again (it didn't have to be another marriage guys) and some shots are even exactly the same (the drinking for example). Why bring back the Chinese guy from the first one? They've even taken an element they bring to kid sequels et al where when they get bored, they get a monkey in. How annoying that is going to be I can't even begin to tell you.
Zach with a bald head and Ed Helms with a tattoo? Not original but ok. Even Stu, the guy they had to find in the first one, clearly takes a back seat probably because he's the most wooden thing about it. The first Hangover was walking the line between gross-out R rated actually funny comedy and kiddie-like stunts that deserve to be on a Nickelodeon film - however it pulled it off successfully. This one seems to be tipping towards the kid element again and I can't help but think it's going to be an absolute pile of shit. Sorry!
There's nothing in the entire trailer that gives me hope, so let's see once the initial hysteria dies down what people will really think. How about you guys? Am I wrong?
Labels:
bradley cooper,
ed helms,
monkey,
nickolodeon,
the hangover 2,
trailer review
Sunday, 10 October 2010
Enslaved: Odyssey To The West
From the mind of Alex Garland and Andy Serkis comes a new take on an ancient tale. But is it an odyssey worth taking?Ninja Theory made one of the best PS3 titles ever in my opinion, Heavenly Sword. For such an early title, it mixed up some cutting edge graphics, engaging story and some great gameplay and luckily, Enslaved ticks the same boxes but just not as well.
Enslaved follows the exploits of Trip and Monkey as they try to get Trip back home, but that's just the beginning. She has enslaved Monkey to do her bidding using the same technology the 'mechs' use for other humans to help her out, and if she dies, you die.
The graphics again look quite remarkable, yet for some reason aren't quite as cutting-edge as I was expecting. Sometimes, it looks glamorous yet at other times all the greenery makes it look rather boring. The gameplay is varied and fun, but sometimes it felt like a poor man's Uncharted with all the jumping around - generally if you press up and jump, you'll get to wherever you need to go. The fighting works and isn't the button bashing Heavenly Sword was, it takes a bit more skill and really, it's the only time you'll die if ever. But that's the main issue - it's just too easy at times.
The characters are well fleshed out and Andy Serkis as director definitely helps the motion-capturing to give a realistic fluidity to not only the cutscenes but the in-game engine. The dynamics work well yet the frustrating platform nature of the game can get a bit much, when you want to jump off onto a tiny platform knowing you can't then you realise when you do jump off a platform, it's definitely the way you need to go, making it very linear. The only times you go off-track are to collect tech orbs which are dotted around so that you can upgrade, or collect a 'mask' that shows a weird piece of the past (our present day with Andy Serkis hanging around), but really it's not worth getting too obsessed about unless you want to unlock achievements.
There's some chase scenes on a 'cloud' (like a hoverboard from Back To The Future II) which isn't used nearly enough and really, you don't get to kill enough mechs. It's definitely more of a platform piece with the odd puzzle and action scene thrown in making it a decent all round game. However, I just found it a little boring at times, and I just wasn't that bothered about the story, it didn't quite delve enough into the setting and really not even that much into the characters themselves. I don't know the original Chinese story, (yes THAT Monkey) but this plays out more like a road movie and essentially that's what it is. I felt like it only touched upon something that could have been so much more. The end might have been somewhat satisfying and suddenly quite strange, but I would have liked there to have been more of a plot rather than just getting from A to B all the time.
Overall, it's a solid game with some decent gameplay and enough to keep you sated for a weekend, but once it's completed you won't return to it. A nice little break from the boring 9 to 5, but this won't be something you'll have to tell your mates about. If you've got nothing else to do, give it a go, but there's going to be better games coming up so maybe hold on for a bit longer if you're short on cash.
Rating: 7/10
Labels:
enslaved,
gaming,
heavenly sword,
monkey,
namco,
ninja theory,
ps3,
review,
the wild bore,
trip,
xbox 360
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