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Reviews by abhijeet
I rarely play RPGs, but ...
Posted : 7 months, 2 weeks ago on 26 May 2008 10:52
(A review of LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga)... this is *Lego* Star Wars, after all, and all six episodes of it too. So far I've played (and finished) Episode I. The game play is ... easy, even by my low standards and the focus is more on getting through the levels rather than the action. It's a lot of fun to play. When you mix Star Wars *and* Lego, how could it not be? The action is fun too, it's awesome to wave your light sabre around and use the 'force' to move your opponents. You have to use the 'force' to get through all the levels by solving mini-puzzles. It's totally awesome, it really is. Clearly, they have aimed this at a younger audience and for the older Star Wars fans (yours truly included), anything works anyway.  0 comments, Reply to this entry
Transsiberian review
Posted : 7 months, 2 weeks ago on 26 May 2008 08:22
(A review of Transsiberian)A well directed thriller set primarily on the Trans-Siberian train line in Russia. An American couple get caught up with a drug trafficker working for the Uzbek mafia, his girlfriend and a corrupt cop. The wife is the most interesting character, complex and frustrating at times. Ben Kingsley does a great turn as the corrupt Russian cop. Good acting all round as well. The only thing that bugs me was the whole cliche of American tourists getting being victims of something shady in a foreign country, though thankfully it wasn't quite as straightforward as that. 0 comments, Reply to this entry
Tout est parfait review
Posted : 7 months, 2 weeks ago on 26 May 2008 12:31
(A review of Tout est parfait)Four friends commit suicide on the same day leaving behind a fifth friend, an ex-girlfriend and their parents. Intense performances by all the actors contribute to a satisfying look at teenage lives. 0 comments, Reply to this entry
Missed connections
Posted : 7 months, 2 weeks ago on 26 May 2008 12:24
(A review of The Edge of Heaven)A prostitute, a retired Turkish immigrant in Germany, his son who is a Professor of German and the prostitute's daughter who is a Turkish political rebel. The people is this story keep trying to reach out to make a connection but they keep tanatalisingly missing each other, again and again. The director/writer has written a very clever script and backed it up with excellent direction and the acting is top notch too. 1 comments, Reply to this entry
Nice way to kick off SIFF 2008
Posted : 7 months, 2 weeks ago on 25 May 2008 12:41
(A review of Mermaid)SIFF (www.siff.net) started on Friday and this is the first of 15 or so movies I plan to watch. It was a nice way to kick it off - offbeat, bizarre and very interesting. The perfect film festival movie, not because it was some arty crap, but because this kind of movie never makes it to the theaters. 0 comments, Reply to this entry
Deceptively simple and addictive
Posted : 7 months, 3 weeks ago on 23 May 2008 03:32
(A review of Boom Blox)The idea is (deceptively) simple - take a tightly packed group of boxes and throw balls at boxes, pull at them, use other boxes to hit them etc. You get points for every box that falls over, more or less, unless there are multipliers and a few other tricks. Each stack of boxes is a puzzle that you can crack in several different ways. The physics engine is *very* impressive and so are the different puzzles. It's takes 5 minutes to learn, but I'm guessing that it will take me several hours to master. You use the Wii remote to position yourself and then point at the box and then press the A button while you swing and then release the A button to release the ball. The ball's velocity is determined by how fast you move your controller. This type of natural gameplay cannot be done on any other console. This game really does make good use of the Wii's unique capabilities. Did I mention you can have turn based competitive and co-operative multiplayer games? And that they are insanely fun too? There, I just did.10/10 0 comments, Reply to this entry
Online gameplay added to the fun
Posted : 7 months, 3 weeks ago on 23 May 2008 03:21
(A review of Mario Kart Wii (with Wii Wheel))The gameplay of Mario Kart for the Wii is eerily similar to Mario Kart 64, which I loved. So it stands to reason that I love the latest game in the series too. The game looks great, all the elements are more polished and colourful. There are plenty of new tracks and vehicles. This is an excellent addition to this excellent series of games. The strength of this game still lies in the gameplay, not technical virtuosity. The killer addition is online gameplay. Nintendo got this one absolutely right, again. The only thing I don't like is the power up strategy. Basically, the further up the field you are, the worse power ups you get. The best ones are reserved for people lower down. It keeps the field competitive and is great if you're trying to come from behind but the flip side is that you can go from first to sixth or seventh in a matter of seconds. Still, it's about the only quibble I have after putting in some 50 hours of gameplay. 0 comments, Reply to this entry
Fun fun fun!
Posted : 7 months, 3 weeks ago on 21 May 2008 02:13
(A review of Mario Kart 64)For the $15 I spent on this game, it's provided me with at least 30 hours of fun. It took a little while to master the controls (5-6 hours), but when I did, it was just awesome. Nintendo keeps it simple, nothing too fancy here, just a lot of fun. There are 16 tracks and 16 racers. The racers are only marginally different but the tracks provide good variety. Of the three racing games from the Nintendo 64, this one is the clear favourite. The two player mode works very well too and I've enjoyed racing with other people, even if they beat me sometimes. 0 comments, Reply to this entry
Got me console gaming again
Posted : 7 months, 3 weeks ago on 17 May 2008 11:00
(A review of Nintendo Wii console)Nintendo knows how to build fun consoles and games. They've hit a home run with the Wii, once again. Truthfully, the games I play overwhelmingly tend to be racing games or sports games. I never liked the idea of playing FPS games on a console while fidgeting with the aiming using the direction keys. I'd much rather play on a PC and aim with the mouse. I haven't owned a console in over a decade now, but that changed with the Wii. It hits the spot for both racing and sports, if they games designed properly. As far as racing games go, there are two varieties - ones you steer with the wii remote and ones you steer with the nunchuk or classic controller. So far, I've tried about 5 different games and have come away satisfied with all but one. So it doesn't have the best graphics rendering engine or the most powerful processor, but the games are almost always fun to play. The sports games tend to be more hit and miss. The Wii Sports package is awesome and makes full use of the Wii remote. Tiger Woods golf does well with the remote too. However, I haven't found any other satisfying game so far. Still waiting for people to get better at this. The slam dunk, as they say, is the Virtual Console. It's a absolute stroke of genius. I'm especially enjoying the Nintendo 64 games - a console I never played with. Also like playing some of the classic NES and Sega games on offer. All in all, this is a versatile and innovative gaming console that has got me console gaming again. 0 comments, Reply to this entry
Already time for a 90s revival?
Posted : 8 months ago on 14 May 2008 02:12
(A review of Carnavas)I can't believe this album was released mid 2006. It took over a year for this to gather some momentum. The feature of their music that grabs you from the first song is the buzzing guitars circa 1994. Just that would be enough to make them my new favourite band of the week/month/year. They also throw in Billy Corgan style vocal delivery - disinterested one moment, high pitched screaming the next along with a healthy dose of angst and irony. That's enough to make them my favourite new band of 2007 (even though they released this album in 2006). 0 comments, Reply to this entry
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