Greetings!
Pardon the radiosilence, I've been crazy-busy.
Merry belated-christmas. Or just Happy Holidays. If you take offence to either though, you need to get that stick out of your butt.
And a happy new year. We're at the end of the first decade of the first century of a new millenium.
You gotta admit.
That's pretty damn huge when you think about it...
But I'm not here to talk about that.
I was gonna make two lists. One best-of-2009 and this, but that just felt like busywork. I am making a "worst" list too though, don't worry.
Oh and had I gotten my new laptop I'd have done this in vlog-y format,  just so you know.

Let's get started.

Gaming-Console of the decade:
The Playstation 2. Why? Because the more I think about it, no other console I've bought this decade has brought me quite as much fun and it's still the one that sees the most use. The fact that it still sells to the degree it does speaks for itself. I don't think any other console has quite as much for everyone. Each part of the gaming-spectrum is covered by the ps2's library and each own little section has atleast one shining example of deliciousness.
I'm not doing a best-games list specific for the ps2 though, not this time.

Top movies made this decade:
(In no particular order and completely from the top of my head. )

Shaun of the Dead. Easily one of the best zombiemovies and really the only rom-com I can call rewatchable.

The Lord of the Rings-trilogy. I don't think I need to explain myself here.

The Dark Knight.  Despite Bales overly-gravely bat-voice I'd have to say this really is one of the best over-all actionmovies that we got this decade.

Juno. Because it just makes me all warm and fuzzy inside somehow. The script is quite corny but the actors just sell it. I do wish Michael Cera would finally choose to play a different style of character. Just once.

Stardust. Easily one of the best fantasy-movies of the decade, apart from LotR. A modern fairytale with all the trimings with some truly imaginitive effects and great acting.

El laberinto del fauno. In many ways the complete opposite of Stardust, and easily going down not as one of my favourite movies of the decade but quite honestly: of all time. The acting is amazing, the movie looks absolutely gorgeous and the music gives me chills through my entire body. All aspects of this movie comes together almost perfectly into one of the most atmospheric and tense movies ever made.

Shooter. One of the most underappreciated actionmovies of the decade. I'm not sure it really belongs on an absolute-best list or anything but I do feel it slipped under too many peoples radar and does deserve more acclaim than it's gotten.

Drag Me To Hell. Sam Raimi's back in horror bay-bee! I love this movie, simple as that.

Serenity. Easily one of my favourite Sci-fi movies of the last decade. Much like Drag Me: I just love it.

I think that'll do it for movies.

Games of the Decade:
This'll be hard. I'm just going on what games I've had the most fun with, just so you know. So if you feel I left out your favourite game, just live with it.

Diablo II(PC). I can't count the hours I've spent on this game... I really can't. Nor do I want to. For the record; Never liked playing it online. I just didn't.

Timesplitters: Future Perfect(Ps2). Just check my review and you'll see why. Despite what faults it may have, I just can't stop loving this game.

Neverwinter Nights(Pc). A game I recently fell back in love with, as any who's tried to get in touch with me online lately can attest to. There's just so much to do in this game. I still wish I could just pre-emptivly kill Aribeth though. I hate her...

Painkiller(Pc). Because sometimes it's nice to just shut ye olde brainpan off and blow stuff up with creative weaponry.

There'll be a part 2 of this section later in the week, I realise now I need to think about this more. So just be back later on this.

-----

And with that, I'll leave you for this decade, it's very almost midnight here so I'll get back to it later on.

Take care, and Happy New Year, I love you all.

Ok, this is just me being pissy at "Neo-conservatives" and their so-called liberal counterparts.

These two words do NOT mean what you think;
Conservative.
Liberal.


They really do not.
Conservative used in a sentence goes something like "I was very conservative with the salting of this soup, I hope you don't mind.".
This does not translates out into
"I made sure to minimalize the salts freedom of speech, made fun of it's religion and crusified it for not agreeing with me. Hope that's ok."
It just means you didn't use alot of bloody salt!
Clear?
Good.

Same goes for people throwing around liberal.
I could go through a whole slew of more cooking-related analogies.
But in short; liberal just means "alot".


There's no conservative conspiracy.
There's no liberal agenda.
Atleast not in the sense so many seem to be believing these days.
Sure, there are small conspiracys and I know for a fact there's a liberal amount of agendas on the political scene througout the world.

Have I made my point?
Good.
Now stop acting like a twat.
You know who you are!

Those who know me know one thing. And that is that I love crappy movies. Now now, let’s get one thing straight before we get to the meat of the review. When I say crappy movies I mean movies that are so bad that they’re good. Or even movies that are so bad that they are made of awesome. This is one of those movies.

 

The story is pretty basic. A group of convicts run away from a crashed escort, take a hostage and get shelter in far away cabin in the magical Land of Oz Or misc woods in the middle of nowhere, supposedly near Seattle. Oh, and one in the group has a connection to the cabin.

This is exactly as formulaic as I make it out to be. There are no surprises nor does there have to be. I mean, just look at the title.

When I picked this movie up I had no preconceived notions about anything besides the slightest hope that it would live up to its title. And thankfully it did that part almost perfectly.

 

Naturally that’s about the only part it does get right. The acting is horrible, there has obviously been no editing on the script and there are only two people in the entire movie that can speak English and make it sound natural. Oh and can I just say that while the convicts are all dreadful actors, they’ve got nothing on the vampire/zombie/werepeople-puritans who inhabit the cabin. Listening to C-list German actors trying to not only speak English but a sad attempt at sounding Shakespearian, complete with an overflow of “thee” “Thy” “tho” and general “‘th”s all over.

 

I can add that if you want, you can make a pretty interesting drinking-game from this movie. Whenever the vampires’ pseudo-quote the bible or adds an apostrophe-th to a word…  Take a nice big swig. I can guarantee that you will be unconscious before the movie’s even over.

Alternatively you can make a drinking-game from whenever a factual error rears it’s ugly head. Starting with the gem of a fragmented(for your pleasure) line “Seattle State Prison”. To those not aware; Seattle is not a state. Nor has the word “Prison” been in effect for a few decades…

 

So with these big complaints against this movie, what reason do I have for liking it? Because I choose to view it as unintentional comedy at it’s finest. Director Olaf Ittenbach has made some of the most unintentionally awesomely comedic gorefests since the days of Grindhouse-cinema. All the things that makes this movie so damn bad is also what makes it so damn awesome. I really cannot stretch this enough. It is Z-grade, zerobudget horror at it’s very finest.

So all I can really say is; get some likeminded friends together, beer up and laugh your asses off at one of the oddest movies made this decade.

Ah... Hey. Not that anyone's reading this, but anyway ;).
I just wanted to say that I am infact alive, I've just had a super-busy couple of weeks... or months... and they won't be letting up any time soon I'm afraid. I have maybe 1½ week before school starts to rest up and on top of that I'm moving soon.
I do have some stuff underway, and I'm even working really hard on playing catch-up with getting Scylla back on track.  I've drawn two pages this week, and next week I'm going to try inking one or two.
Next page is going to be pure exposition I'm afraid, but it must be done, it was either that or getting into a talking-heads-segment that... if all of it had to be spread out it'd go on forever. And I'm just not drawing that. I'm not, I refuse.
I also have some  reviews underway, tracking down a few things. I'm also going to try and get into the videoreviewing-bit, but I have a number of kinks to work out. We'll see, might file it under "Can't be arsed" if I don't have the time.

What else, what else...
Other than that, life goes on. Got in over my head with some debts, but once school starts and money starts rolling into my account again that should work out in maybe 2 weeks.
Oh how I can't wait to move... My finances will be much improved this year, because my new apartment is at almost half the rent, and I don't have to take a ½h walk just to get to the store.
Which is great, because then I can save up and get a new computer for one... this one's giving out I'm afraid. The light behind the screen is on it's last legs, same with the touchpad and don't get me started on the usbports.
Oh, and I want to be able to play atleast one pc-game manufactured after 2005. And I think anyone reading my reviews wishes for the same thing.
Also I want a job, a girlfriend and a fully crewed Super Stardestroyer complete with a starbucks, a subway and an arcade. Free of course. Atleast that's what I'll be asking Santa for this year.

This is the Panda, wishing you all a spectacular summernight. I'm off to bed.

The Tomb.
Ironically that's precisely where this movie should be placed.

Stop me if you've heard this before;
A psychotic killer kidnaps and locks up a bunch of people, that he feels has wronged him, and carries on to play a malicious and sadistic game with them. He also has a thing for masks, likes to use voice-changers and introduces himself frequently by way of video. Sound familiar? Thought so. Sound like the plot of the titular shortstory?  No. Not one bit.
Difference between this guy and the Jigsaw-killer?
This guy's a far worse actor, uses roughly a fifth of the same budget and is way lazier and less creative. Oh and he has a Lovecraft-fetish.
Thus I have the plotsummary done. Because that's all you need to know.
Really. Those were the highlights.

Now I had this coming.
I'm abit of a movie-masochist., I admit this. My morbid curiosity led me to picking this up as a rental earlier today. Those who know me know that Lovecraft is one of my favourite authors and just reading the back of this dvd immediatly gave me a highly sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach at how this movie would be.
I should know better.
I've been watching stuff like this for a long time.

As you can guess my expectations of this movie were fairly low. I actually said to myself that I'd be happy if it'd just be a decent gorefest. Honestly.

But no. Even in this regard the movie fails quite miserably.
There are movies that are so bad they're good. Movies that are so bad they're awesome. And then there's this kind. The movie that's so bad it's just a pain in the ass to watch.
That's really all I'm intending to say on this movie. Now I'm gonna go watch Dagon.

Ahem.
Just going to jump right into it. First off I want to say: it's really hot today and thus... I'll keep it short.

This is a sidescroller/action-game from 1998 by the same people who brought us Earthworm Jim and many other great titles.
You play as the young leader of a ragtag team of rebels, and you're also the wielder of the RIG. A weapon that is pretty much just an energy-lasso capable of lifting both enemies and various debris for various creative purposes. And you power it up by torturing your enemies.
Made sense at the time.
Or actually, no it didn't.
However, the game has a fairly cartoony style and the baddies are robot-mutant-whatevers, helped the game slip right under the ESRB, despite there being sections where you actually have to drag your robotic foes along the ground and throw them into meatgrinders in order to pass through some obstacles...

But enough about that.
This game is at it's core a platformer, although heavier on the action than most of it's kin at the time.
The controls are fairly responsive, though they feel abit sluggish at times. But that might be the pal-version, if anyone has played this in it's ntsc-form, feel free to let me know.
Graphically it does ok, although it feels abit cluttered. What really holds this game back is it's own style. This game plays pretty much like the first Earthworm Jim-game, only something tells me Shiny wanted to have a "darker" tone to appease the majority of what was the Playstations initial audience. However, in this search for a grittier atmosphere comes the problem of everything sort of... blending together. Leading to the aforementioned cluttered feeling. And that's being nice, because at it's worst this leads to a complete clusterf*ck.
And yet, I still like this game. I can't explain it. I think it's because at it's core it's still a very solid platformer. The controls are tight enough to make it enjoyable to get from point A to point B and there's something fun about grabbing an enemy with a lasso of light and slamming him repeatedly into the ground.
This games biggest problem however: is it's difficulty. Mostly because of the way to aquire extra continues. It's only achieved at the end of the level if you've filled the torture-quota and gathered enough cog-ish maguffins. Otherwise, you've got three lives and after that... you're back to start the level over from the beginning. If you saved before, otherwise you're going to have to start all over again.
The game also has quite a few cheap deaths, and bosses who's weakpoints are sometimes just a little too hard to spot.
But if you can live with that, I say give this game a go.
Also I suggest setting your own soundtrack, because the reason I haven't mentioned the music is because I really can't remember a single tune. That can't be a good thing.

However, it is at it's core entertaining besides it's faults, which I feel is worth mentioning over and over again.

Trying new things. And it's going to be short since I don't want to spoil things.



I just want to start this review off by saying that I picked this book up at random because I saw the short-lived Dresden Files TV-series(that you should watch).
This is a very good book. I'm not sure if Jim Butcher wrote this or Codex Alera first, but either way it's part of his early-works, and as far as early works go it's phenomenal.
He manages something so rare as being able to balance Fantasy, Noir-thriller and comedy, a mix that just doesn't seem like it would blend very well...
And yet, here we are, with me saluting the book to no ends and not really telling you why.
Because it's not an easy book to explain, but here goes.
It stars the wizard Harry Dresden, so named after Houdini by his father, not a certain young brittish boy who likes to fondle his wand...
Ok, that was crude, but still.
Harry is not a person who has alot of luck in life, infact being Chicago's only professional wizard does not mean there's a line of people beating down his door for his services.
And it's right in Harry's squalor we get dropped, as he's hired by the Chicago PD to help with a case, and eager to eat that month he takes the job of trying to solve a murder that defies all explanation.
As the story progresses we are introduced to a number of interesting characters, none of which feels like simple throw-aways and each getting the space they need without making the book feel cluttered. 
Personal favourite is Bob, Harry's Spirit of Intellect that resides in a skull in his basement.
It's all told in a first-person narative, ala Film Noir, and it really gives us some serious insight into Harry's mind to the point where you feel you know him and actually care what happens.
The humour in this book is really what sells it for me, apart from the compelling characters, and it has caused many giggles on the bus among places.

If ever I needed to recommend a book that anyone can read regardless of how they feel about fantasy: this is the place to start.
Seriously, it's that good.
Pick it up today wherever you may find it and enjoy.
If I'm wrong, leave complaints below for me to duly ignore.

//Panda

I'm writing this, just as a little pre-sleep venting and such. And I'm doing it numerically for no other reason than that I'm in the mood for it.

1: Sorry about the lack of reviews for a while. I've been superbusy and just haven't had time to write one. Granted I don't think anyone actually reads this, but just incase someone does follow my work I feel it best to say it. I am working on some stuff though, I promise. The next game among other things.

2: Afformentioned stress... Ah yes. And it's not gonna get lighter. This week alone I'm up to my elbows in stuff I need to do and some that I have no way of getting out of. And some that I could easily have resolved last week if I hadn't spent it half feverish and half nursing anxiety-attack after anxiety-attack.
Good times...

3: Pirate Bay-Trial. I'm only gonna touch on this lightly because it really feels almost done-to-death here in this country. And it's only been 3 days or something. The whole trial falls into a greyzone to be honest and it's all come down to phrasing. Who says what, and who doesn't say when. I'm not saying it was an unfair trial. I'm really not. I'm on both sides in this whole debate but that's a long story. The reasons I'm against the recently-passed Ipred-law and so forth isn't because I think Copyright and so on is a bad thing, I'm against it because of the lenghts you have to go to keep track of all this.
I'm a big advocate of free speech, personal integrity and the right to think what you want when you want, but to segway I have to say that the law in question is a big stepping-stone on the dark path towards totalitarianism. 1984 was a warning example. Not a How-To-manual.
Sorry, got a little carried away...
I do think the sentence was way uncalled for... 1 year in prison each and a total of 30.000.000kr? Seriously?! Though to be fair the original sentence motioned by the prosecutors(Hired by Sony, WB and a few others "poor businesses") was an asking of 100million.
By european trial-standards... that's a shitload of money for damages. And way overboard for a number of reasons since at the most they're guilty of assisting the real crime in question. Also the argument "Well they make money from their website and thus fund all this!" is bull... Why? Because the money they make comes from advertisement, not the websites members. Big difference.


Anyway... time to get off my soapbox and go to bed. Early day tomorrow and some serious catching up to do. I am feeling less just... horribly-bad than last week though, thankfully... so I should manage. I hope.
Good night folks!

Movietime!

I rented this movie earlier, feeling ready to dare it into proving what the boxcover said. Things like "More graphic than Saw" and so forth, along with "The scariest movie to come out of England since The Descent".
Being someone who didn't really find The Descent all that scary, I thought that was pretty much a given. Or I'm just jaded from watching too many horror-movies.

The story sets us off with the tale about Jenny and Steve, two young lovers out for a romantic weekend in the english countryside. Or, around said lake in said title to be exact. The way the plot evolves though I'd say they'd been better off renting a couple of movie and opening a bottle of chardonay.
Now, normally with horror-movie-couples I tend to be waiting and wishing for them to get their comeupance from being sugary-sweet to a nauseating degree... but in this... the relationship feels... Human.
Seriously.
They actually feels like an real couple, and not only that... but real human beings.
I should mention that this movie is more along the lines of Frontier(s) than Saw... Or possibly another french movie, namely Ils(them). Now that I think about it, the latter is the best approximation. Why? Because it basically has the same foe. Namely bored small-town-teenagers.

One thing I loved about this movie, and something I love in both european and asian horror, is the fact that it's not stuck in some pre-conceived notion that horrormovies need to be politically correct. They don't. That's what makes horror horrifying. But that's a rant I'm saving for another day. But rest assured, it's coming.
As I said.
This movie is not politically correct. And I found myself loving it for it...
That's not good, because I really wanted to review a bad movie. I want something to bitch about, but alas.
"Sadly" this is a very, very, good movie. I can pretty much guarantee that it will keep you on your toes, and if anything... make you feel quite uncomfortable.
It's a very visceral movie, in pretty much every sense of the word. However, it doesn't really revel in gore the same way as say... Above mentioned Saw or Frontier(s), it keeps it fairly toned down, by todays standards, showing just enough to actually add to the suspence.
What gore is there however, is enough to keep old gorehounds like myself happy.


Final thoughts:
See this movie if you're a fan of either human-drama, horror or suspence, because this movie succeeds in every aspect. As I've already said many times, it's viceral, scary, and well-played.
In other words:
I recommend this movie. Alot.

Panda out.

Ahem...
So I just noticed that I'm gonna be helluva-busy the coming few weeks, because I have roughly 2 weeks to get my grade in math, finish that course and get into collegial educations.

...
So I won't be online a whole lot in the coming few weeks.... maybe just pop in to check my messages, my email and pay bills... that's about it, I seriously don't have the time... Sorry.
He said as if anyone cares if I'm here or not ;).
That was ment to be funnier... ah well....

Also my usb-ports are just pissing me the fuck off... We need some time apart before my computer goes apart :nod:....
So I won't be on this weekend either on msn and so forth because of... wanting a break from my computer.

We'll see how this affects scylla. Page 2 had abit of a missfortune and thus needs a redraw... Mostly I did it in the wrong pencils, so it'll look like sheit when inked.
I can't help it... My 3h and 6b are the same brand, honest mistake :p.
Or I COULD use a blue 0.7 and all that like you pro-y folks, but bugger that =3.

those who don't know what scylla is can check this http://www.drunkduck.com/Scylla/index.php .
It's safe mind, just Drunk Duck.

Also the semi-flirting with cute-girl did get a slight up-bump a while back.
We'll see. Don't think anything will come from it as such, but it's a nice change of pace to not just be at my mother's apartment and staring at a wall.

And I've counted, while writing this journal my modem's died 8 times.
EIGHT TIMES!!!
This took 15 minutes!!

Ahm..
Anyway.
Off to school.

Black is one of those games that I would never have picked up if left to my own devices because it pretty much looks like exactly what I tend to bitch about when it comes to videogames made since 2004:
An FPS in a "realistic" setting(aka brown, followed by brown, followed by enough bloom to give you migrane) and the typical effort to try and be as "gritty" as possible.
Infact, only reason this game's in my collection is because it came with a magazine-subsciption.
So it may suprise you to learn that...
This game is actually pretty damn decent.



The story sets you up as the member of a Black Ops team(guess from what country) and you are currently being interrogated for... actually the game never makes this 100% clear.
It does mean you get the story told through flashbacks though that you play. The story is nothing special, it's all pretty standard action-movie stuff of the kind Michael Bay might produce. Or... that might be a tad on the mean side. This game is somewhat smarter than that.
Basically you've been trying to catch an agent who's gone rogue and amassed an army of mercenaries/terrorists and set up camp in Wherethehellistan where he plans to... Again the game doesn't make this clear either. This is one of those games that's ment to be the first part of a series but so far Nr.2 is yet to be announced. At all.
The dialogue is pretty well acted though. Even if they do seem to be making Batman-voices half the time in the cutscenes. Also the cutscenes are unskippable the first time you play a level. Which means if you've turned the console off and is then to play the mission again... you're going to have to sit through it all again.
And this brings to mind one of the biggest complaints I have about this game: there's no form of quicksaving. At all. On one level there was about 15 minutes worth of just relentless baddies inbetween checkpoints. Dying at 14 minutes was frequent and was the primary reason for causing several swearwords that I generally try not to use. Seeing as this ment promptly playing the whole thing through again.

I should mention I was on the easiest difficulty.
This game is just that hard. You will die alot, be prepared for this.
Which brings to mind another problem with this game:
The "Realism". Sure, it's action-movie realism, but they're trying to sell it on it so I'm going to bitch about it.
Or rather, they want the guns to feel as real as possible. And they do, they all sound great, look great and handle better than in most fps-titles. However.
An RPG should be able to kill a guy even if he IS holding a riot-shield and you hit him with it dead-on. And yet... they're immortal. Unless you manage to cause something to blow up behind them. Or manage to sneak up behind them and shoot them in the back.
Which is very, very, annoying and leads to many cheap deaths. Usually yours.
Not to mention the blood.
There is none. At all. Your sidekicks curse more than enough in later missions and the game has a solid M-rating. So why no blood? It all feels like the graphics-people put it in there but some genious at EA decided to make them take the blood out.
The charactermodels are well-animated and detailed enough so that when you shoot someone in the throat they will actually hold a hand to it to stop the bloodflow... which makes no sense since there really isn't any.
I'm not one of those who crave gallons of blood in every game I play. Infact excessive amounts of gore is often enough for me to avoid a game.
The reason it's a problem here is that it's another one of those things that actually pull you out of the immersion. Just a little red splotch from when you shoot someone with a shotgun to the face would have been enough.

I must say though that the controls are really good for a console fps. They're smooth, they're responsive and become intuitive enough that you won't really miss mouse and keyboard. You will miss a jumpbutton however. Some sections of the game feel, much like the bloodthing, like they were designed with one thing in mind that then got pulled out at the last minute.

Maybe I should mention that any frustrations about this game are quickly outweighed by the fact that this game is incredibly fun to play, and it just might be one of the most frantic games I've played lately. It's hard to care about those small annoyances when you have an almost endless horde of baddies coming at you and you're running-and-gunning for your life.
Which also brings to mind that one part that's actually not forgiveable.
There is no multiplayer-option at all.
I can appreciate the act of focusing on making a great single-player campaign and so forth, but they did that too well. The game is so good that you'll desperatly be wanting to play it against friends, or atleast go do the story in co-op.
If it had that, this game would easily have made my Top 10 FPS-games if I ever were to make one.

If anything for the glee of causing alot of really big explosions. And I do mean alot. That would be the part that warranted that Michael Bay-comment.

Big question on the lips of my massive myriad of readers by now is "So do you recommend it?"...Yes. I do.
It's not the best game ever, but it's way better than it seems. As I said, it's fun.
If only in that Big-Dumb-Action-Movie sort of way that let's you buy the extra-large popcorn, a nice cold soda and just shut your brain off for a few hours.

Panda out.

So it's time for a break-week. Here, normally known as a break dedicated to sports-in-name-only. Atleast for nerds like me, who'll spend it catching up on precious videogametime.
Of course, spring-semester here in sweden is fairly easy, since there are so many breaks for this and that that it's actually hard to take it all seriously...
Granted, I don't mind the time it gives me to just... well... not do anything... but at the same time I dislike it, because as I said... it get's hard to take it all seriously.

Anyway, of course there's always something that needs doing... I need to work on app's for colleges and so forth, I need to look for a summer-job, I need to finish some comics, I need to plan out my next lithography, I need to find a way to make some extra cash, I need to...
You get the idea.
I don't like it, and I'm currently sick to boot.
I also have a shitload of calls to make later.

I'm gonna go back to sleep in a bit.
And on a happier note:

The sun's out. Haven't seen it in like forever it feels like xD.

So I may finally have gotten around to reviewing this...
------------------------------------------------------------------------


Story:
Unlike the previous games in the series, Future Perfect actually has a coherent story. Imagine my surprise.
Much like the previous game, it centres around Sgt. Cortez and... Timetravel. Only in this game, you have direct control of him across the levels, and always get a sidekick in each timeperiod.
The story is your typical "stop this before it happens"-deal, but it's so well executed, that it just feels fresh. Not to mention that the dialogue is amazing, with some very quirky humour that actually had me laughing at several points.
Be warned though:
This game works alot on the Rule Of Cool, but by the time the more out-there elements strike, you'll be too busy enjoying yourself.
However, if you are one of those who demands stone-cold realism from your story... You may want to avoid this game.
I don't want to give too much away, but let's just say that it's a story that's deffinetly worth-while for the rest of us.

Gameplay:
The gameplay is excellent. While the controls can be abit stiff at times, sniping for instance is abit of a hassle, they work well over-all.
I don't quite get the lack of a jump-button though, but it's not really missed once you get into it.
On a personal note though, some stealth-elements in the main storymode could have been skipped. But that has more to do with my lack of patience.
Though I did, to much glee, notice that... You can for the most part ignore sneaking around if you want, bring out the big guns and just blast your way through.
Where the game really shines though, is the Multiplayer. And it is just pure fun, even for those who aren't that big on fps-titles. There are plenty of modes, and even the option to play through storymode with a friend. Which is much appreciated.
The regular Multiplayer is fully customizable, complete with selecting the weapons for each stage, alot(and I mean alot) of characters to choose from and even selecting music.
And yes; you can choose exactly what bots you want as opposition.
If there was a single selling-point for this game: The multiplayer is it.
And let's face it: It's hard not to have fun when you're a Cyborg-Chimp, dual-wielding machineguns against zombies, or a Stone Golem with a baseball-bat.
Also, for the completion-ist there is alot to do in this game.
Besides the previous-mentioned multiplayer there are also plenty of minigames, including one where you race a remote-control stuffed cat around a track. Yes. Really.
And it's not the weirdest one, but I'll leave that up to you to find.
Oh: And it also rewards you for playing through the story on more than one difficulty. Almost everything you complete unlocks something new.

Sound:
The sound and sound-design of this game is very well excecuted. The voiceacting is honestly some of the best I've heard in the genre.
My only problem in all this is that the music is a tad generic. It serves it's purpose, but really not much more.
And yes, that's pretty much all I have to say about the sound.

Graphics:
This is a pretty game. Or... By last-gen standards. It has been given a somewhat cartoony feel which works so well that I really can't think of much else to say, graphic-specifically.
Now: Design-wise on the other hand...
This game looks very unique. Everything from level-design to characters has a very distincive look, and the developer has really taken advantage of the different timeperiods.
If anything it's very refreshing to play an FPS where everything isn't brown-ish grey.

Last Thoughts:
I really like this game. Anyone who's had to deal with me while playing this knows this.
I'm not really the fps sort of guy, but I seriously had alot of fun playing this game. Despite the small hick-ups, overall it's a very very fun game, and it's one where... even after you finish the main quest there is still alot of things you can do.
It's very rewarding game, and well worth a look if you find it.
Oh: and it's also on all 3 last-gen consoles.
I have only played the Ps2 version however, but from what I understand all of the versions play pretty much the same.
In short: buy it. If you own any of these consoles, you need to have this game, even if you're just after a game to kill some time with along with some friends.

Grade:
9/10

*cough*
So ah... 3 guesses who completely forgot he had a livejournal to update? ... If your guess was Stephen Lynch... You fail.

And no, I don't know if he even has one...

However:
Hi!
I'm alive. Sort of. I think I'm coming down with a cold. I hate colds so much...

I really don't know what else to say... um...
Lovelife is stagnant at best. There's a new girl at teh school who has me all conflubred...but that's about it. No idea how that'll work. I'll screw it up before anything happens, naturally, but still  =3.
She's damn cute though... Just my type... ... Ah well, we'll see.

What else?
Working on a comic when I'm not sick or at school. Sadly that means I'm hardly working on it... But yeh.

And I'm still browsing for a new apartment.

Also; new reviews will be up sooner or later, soon as I can... figure out what to review...
I'm considering book-review, since I rarely have time to play anything lately.
Oh and.. I was going to review the made-for-tv movie Ice Planet, but it was so horrendous I couldn't get through it this time... I've seen it once before, but I don't remember enough to write a full review on it.
For that I'd have to see it again, and frankly... I just don't hate myself enough.


//Panda

Hey there!
Long time no write...
He said to the maybe 2 people who will ever read this, but still :p.
I hope everyone had a happy holidays, whatever you did celebrate. And if you didn't celebrate anything at all then, well... You're a pesimist, and I feel for you =). There's always something to celebrate.

But anyway, I'm gonna get to something funnier, namely my best-of-'08s in just abit, but first I'm going to whine.
Why?
Because yet again I am screwed over finacially.
The student-loan people, yet again...
This time, they decided in all their wisdom not to give swedens many students who depend on them, any money at all, in december.
I mean, I can understand their reasoning...
It's not so that many of us, like me for instance, are dependant on these money for the sake of pure survival, and stuff like rent, tuitions, and so forth... of course not... That's just all in our heads... right?
F**kers...
It'll work out.
I'll live, but all the FUN things I was planning to do on my extremely short holiday just went kablooie... Ah well.
That's all I'm saying about that for now... I prefer to be in a  good mood.

Now: My best-of's.
First of, I'm gonna say a few things.
1: This is just opinion.
2: To make this list, it doesn't have to be FROM 2008. I just have to have been exposed to it in said year.
3: The cake I made earlier was divine. Just fyi. Yum.

And now...
Panda-Picks of 2008!

Best Animated Movie:
Wall-E.
This was a hard pick, because there have been so many excellent animated movies this year, like Kung Fu Panda for instance, also an awesome movie. However, there's just something about Wall-E that made it a cut above the rest... And it's not something I can put my finger on. It's just that much more than the rest. See it, and you will understand.

Best Game Completed:
Timesplitters: Future Perfect.
Another hard one. And remember what I said about it not having to be from this year...
I bought this game sometime in the summer, just on a whim, and I was just blown away. Speaking as someone who's not really that big on FPS-titles, that's a pretty hard thing to do.
I just finished playing through the story, and I  must say that it was a cut above the rest... quite a big cut too, even this long after it's release. There's just something about the comedy mixed into it, along with alot of truly original twists, that makes it a truly fun game. And ah... the insanely fun multiplayer doesn't hurt.

Best Superhero Movie:
Iron Man.
This one was also a hard one. But this is the one I felt the most just... insane glee, from watching. Yes, The Dark Knight was incredible. And The Incredible Hulk restored my faith in their ability to make a decent Hulk-flick.
But, I stand by my statement.
This would be the one from which I walked out of the theatre and had a big stupid grin straight across my face.
And also, Robert Downey Jr might just be the best piece of casting for a superhero ever... He really was Tony Stark for me.

Movie of the Year:
I really can't select one. There were just too many good movies this year. Of all genres. 2008 was a very good year for movies.

Anyway.
I'm leaving it at that, for the simple reason that clock's ticking up so to speak. Or rather I'm gettin way too sleepy to write a bigger list.
Hope it was entertaining, atleast a little =).

Next we meet, I'm gonna try and have an actual review for you, promise =).

Happy New Year everyone!
Don't over-drink and don't blow your face off!
 

I Am A: Chaotic Good Human Fighter/Sorcerer (2nd/2nd Level)


Ability Scores:

Strength-13

Dexterity-13

Constitution-13

Intelligence-13

Wisdom-14

Charisma-11


Alignment:
Chaotic Good A chaotic good character acts as his conscience directs him with little regard for what others expect of him. He makes his own way, but he's kind and benevolent. He believes in goodness and right but has little use for laws and regulations. He hates it when people try to intimidate others and tell them what to do. He follows his own moral compass, which, although good, may not agree with that of society. Chaotic good is the best alignment you can be because it combines a good heart with a free spirit. However, chaotic good can be a dangerous alignment because it disrupts the order of society and punishes those who do well for themselves.


Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.


Primary Class:
Fighters can be many things, from soldiers to criminal enforcers. Some see adventure as a way to get rich, while others use their skills to protect the innocent. Fighters have the best all-around fighting capabilities of the PC classes, and they are trained to use all standard weapons and armor. A fighter's rigorous martial training grants him many bonus feats as he progresses, and high-level fighters have access to special melee maneuvers and exotic weapons not available to any other character.


Secondary Class:
Sorcerers are arcane spellcasters who manipulate magic energy with imagination and talent rather than studious discipline. They have no books, no mentors, no theories just raw power that they direct at will. Sorcerers know fewer spells than wizards do and acquire them more slowly, but they can cast individual spells more often and have no need to prepare their incantations ahead of time. Also unlike wizards, sorcerers cannot specialize in a school of magic. Since sorcerers gain their powers without undergoing the years of rigorous study that wizards go through, they have more time to learn fighting skills and are proficient with simple weapons. Charisma is very important for sorcerers; the higher their value in this ability, the higher the spell level they can cast.


Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)

Does the title make sense?
Why you asking me? I don't care. Start writing.
Right!

Going to start off with the quick "how I am" that is customary in these situations.
Well... I have a cold. Yes: again. I get all of these bastardisations of nature that may be passing in a 30 mile radius.
Having a cold always makes me grumpy, so here's a rant I'm writing while waiting for Teh Sleepies to return.

This will most likely be primarily about videogames of various kinds, so if you're not interested in that or other nerd-dom... Why are you even reading this to begin with?

Now...The game currently occupying most of my time, is World of Warcraft. I like WoW quite abit, I'm a big fan of the entire Warcraft-universe.
I just have a problem with something: namely people who are constantly moaning about how *their* class is "soooo underpowered" and this-or-that is "totally overpowered!11!".
Now then. Is the game perfectly balanced? No.
Are some classes slightly more powerful than others? Yes.
But it depends completely what you're intending to do.
It's all abit rock-paper-scissors about the whole thing, really. Because let's face it. Over long distance, a Mage is going to kick, say... A paladins, ass. Because they have alot of long-range stuff to make up for being very weak in close-combat.
So get up close and the Melee-class is more than likely to win over the Caster-class. It's not really that hard to figure out.
I've found that most the time, the people bitching and moaning about these things.... they usually don't know how to play their own class.
Be it from Newbie-dom, or the more dreaded N00b-ism, some people just can't play their damn classes. And it's usually those people who start to moan first. And second. And... pretty much most the time.
And let's face it: if you don't like getting continuously hacked to pieces or blown to bits by another player: play on a Non-PvP server and stay the frak out of the Battlegrounds!
It's really not that hard, people!
Another thing that's really ticking me off is the abundance of Death Knights roaming around. Of course, that may just be because I can't afford the expansion at the moment, thus foiling my plans for my own Killer Dwarf of Doom.
On the bright side, by the time I get it, the kinks will have been worked out and it will all that more enjoyable.

Topic change.

Currently, looking through games-yet-to-be-released...I gotta say that the two games I am looking forward to the very most are Diablo III and Starcraft 2.
They just look so very kickass...
Speaking of Blizzard... I really want an HD-remix or other of Lost Vikings 2. Preferably for handhelds. That'd be awesome. I'd be in extacy since... I love that game.
Now I imagine a bunch of young eyebrows being raised in bewilderment.
Lost Vikings 2 was a Puzzle-Platformer for a number of consoles. My personal fav being the one for the Super Nintendo.Of course, that may be because it's the one I own.
It was 3 awesome Vikings who were trying to get back to their own time.
That's... pretty much it.

Oh. And here's hoping we actually get Duke Nukem Forever soon... I miss Duke.
Granted, that game has become a tired joke amongst gamers since way-back-when.
I was surprised to find that there's a Duke-game for the GBA though.
Yeah, I know =o. Staggering.
The game was bright, had a plot and was free of an overindulgance of blood and pixelated nudity.
The problems I had with the game?
It was bright, had a plot and was free of an overindulgance of blood and pixelated nudity.
This is a Duke-game afterall... Whole different set of standards are in play :p.
Sadly... I think that game is the closest we'll get to DN-Forever.
And that scares me abit...
The shotgun still kicked ass though.

Anyways, I'm getting sleepy. Yay. So good night folks.

Oh, remember these? Well, without further ado here's a new review!


Ghost Ship, for those who don't know, is basically the typical story of a haunted house, only at sea. It's pretty much that simple.
The movie starts out with what I can only call one of the coolest mass-death scenes in a movie for many many years.  All I can say is: kudos to the director for starting us off with a bang. Set in the 1950's no-less. Or there-abouts, the movie never really makes this clear.
Then we get a change of pace, and time, as we are moved into the modern day era to meet the heroes of this movie. Or victims, depending how you look at it.
So yeah, this movie is basically a slasher-flick, but with a ship killing people instead of a nutjob in a mask.
Or, it's not actually the ship that's responsible and all that, but I felt that giving away the movie's "big twist" felt abit evil. Even for me. And for a nice guy, I'm one evil bastard.

The idea of starting off with a bang, slow down and then slowly build it back up again, isn't half bad. It's been done a few times before this, and deffinetly been done a few times since. When it's done right, it's great, when it's done badly we end up with movies like Bloodrayne. But that's a pain for another day.
Once the building starts back up after the slowdown, we get treated to a movie oozing with some pretty good atmosphere. Or, so it would be, but like so many horror-movies from the early part of this decade they feel the best way to show off when a scene is ment to be "cool" is to crank up the metal.
Don't get me wrong, I like the music in itself.
The scene in this movie where this truly stands out is in a flashback, detailing how the ship became a derelict ghostship to begin with. The music of a b-grade Nu-Metal band does not suit a flashback to the 1950's people!
Another thing about the movie that's abit of a cringe-factor is the occasionally stiff dialogue. But frankly, it's not something that's a problem.
Bigger problem is the occassional handing-out of, as it so often get's called in trailers, "High-Octane Action"-moments.
Serious, it hurts the tension to see a gigantic 3d-rendered explosion pop up every-so-often.

On the good side of this movie though, is the plot which feels surprisingly original. The twist is not entirely original, and as I said, the dialogue could need some work. But I'm talking more about the over-all story here. 
And not to mention that the effects are genre-worthy, despite some of the previously-mentioned 3d-stuff.
As always with this type of movie, it all boils down to the deaths.
I can tell you, the movie does not disappoint.
There's some serious creativity at work here, complete with some stuff I actually hadn't seen before. Trust me, that's a hard thing to do.

Hopefully, I have made some sort of sense here.
To sum it all up, I'd have to say that this movie is great popcorn-horror. It does however require you to be in the mood for it. But then again, most movies do.

By:
The Everlasting Clarity Panda,
Daniel Laében-Rosén
2008.

Ode To Tea:
Tea, oh sparkling tea
Wondrous beverage in a world
Bereft of hope and wonders
Tea, oh sparkling tea
Whereelse would you be?



Ok. I'm bored and sitting out a poweroutage. Since I'm sitting here by candlelight, drinking tea and wearing black slouch-wear(so to speak) I felt it appropriate to write some emo-esque poetry.
I mean, whenelse would I be entitled to :p?

Ode to Electricity:
Electricity, oh electricity
Woe is you electricity
Died you have, our light snuffed out
You have slumped there in the corner
We all named to be your mourner
Electricity, oh electricity
Stop faking it you lazy bastard!


Yes, I do sh*t like this when I'm bored. Why you ask?
Do I think I'm a good poet? No. I think I'm a crap poet. I generally deal with prose :p.
This is just to pass a few moments whilst wishing for someone to get the juice back on.

Also considering going to the store and pick up some more candles, just incase.

Candles:

Candles, my candles
Burn ever so lovely,
my candles
Candles, my candles
Your light spreads free
Candles, my candles
Keep burning lovely,
Just not me.



Ok... enough there. If I think of any more, I'll post them later :3.

Other than that... well, I'm abit surly today. Woke up on the wrong side of the bed I guess.
Or something.

Surly:

Surly, I'm surly
Surly, not burly
Surly, so surely
Surely, quite surly


Ok. Last, I promise :p.

Man I hope the power comes back soon... I want more tea.