I think the my days of having the patience to sit through a 40 hour video game are through.
It took me almost 5 months to put in the 45 hours needed to finish Final Fantasy 13, with a lot of it feeling like an obligation to my sometimes misguided principle to always finish what i start. That’s not to say there weren’t some great moments in the experience, but by and large everything the Final Fantasy franchise stands for has become stale.
Final Fantasy 13 tries so very hard to advance the aging Japanese RPG genre and actually does succeed in doing so on some levels. I, for one, am actually glad they got rid of towns in this game. When you boil it down, the only thing towns are good for are a) buying items and equipment and b) fulfilling a required plot/character interaction in order to advance the storyline. Getting rid of them streamlines the gameplay. It’s much more convenient to be able to buy items at any save point instead of hunting for several buildings in a town to complete your shopping list.
They say that the 21st century belongs to the geeks. If that’s the case, then Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World may just be the film of the century.
Sound absurd? Maybe. But at the very least, this action-romance-comedy is the quintessential film of the geek generation.
Director Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) once described this movie as a cross between Say Anything and Kill Bill. It may sound ridiculous, but it’s an apt description for this deliciously fun movie based on Brian Lee O’Malley’s six volume graphic novel series.
Michael Cera plays Scott Pilgrim, a 22 year old Toronto slacker who is currently “in-between jobs.” He’s the bassist of a band with his friends and they have aspirations of signing a record label contract and making it big. On the personal front, Scott’s recently started dating high-schooler, Knives Chau (Ellen Wong), as his way of rebounding from a heart-wrenching breakup he had just gone through. Scott meets the girl of his dreams, Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), at a party and is immediately smitten by her. Unfortunately, Ramona comes with some heavy baggage in the form of “seven evil exes” which Scott must defeat in battle if he is to date her.
Sounds like a reasonable premise for a movie, right? If you can buy into that, you’re going to love this film. (If not, well, you’ll probably feel like this fuddy duddy did.)
What Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World does best is encapsulate all the things I liked about my childhood into one very nostalgic and fun film. References to video games, comic books, television, music, and pop culture naturally pepper the film throughout without seeming forced. Co-Screenwriter Michael Bacall explains the film’s secret in handling references as “…trying to make it punctuation as opposed to prose.”
Did I love every single one of the references the movie makes? Of course not. I didn’t particularly care for the pseudo Dance Dance Revolution-ninja game Scott and Knives play together, but it was a necessary plot device in the film to show a visceral video game rather than a couch/controller based one. There’s also a much ballyhooed Seinfeld reference that I didn’t LOL at personally, but I did respect the fact that they got the rights to Jonathan Wolff’s theme music from the show while also shooting the scene like an authentic Seinfeld scene.
That’s the key here – authenticity. See, the internet generation can smell a phony a mile away. A lot of the drek Hollywood has put out in the last decade reeks of cashing in (Gamer, anyone?) on what studio executives perceive as the “geek culture.”
One of the reasons why Scott Pilgrim works is because it’s crafted by geeks (Brian Lee O’Malley and Edgar Wright) who grew up with the very same things the film refers to. These people have played those video games, read those comics, watched those television shows, and listened to those bands. They just happen to be accomplished writers and filmmakers with the means and creativity to share highlights from their formative years.
Most of the video game references are general enough that people who aren’t avid video game players will enjoy them. Do you get the concept of receiving points for defeating an enemy? Ok, how about the concept of landing multiple punches in a row on an enemy constituting a “combo”? Not so obscure, right? Now, let’s take it a step further. What if defeating an enemy turns them into a bunch of coins that fall to the floor? I hope you see where the film goes with this.
For people who have played a lot of video games in their childhood, boy are you in for a treat. It starts with a smirk or maybe even a chuckle at the opening Universal logo ditty rendered completely in 8-bit sounds. Your ears will perk up when you hear the “finding a secret” sound from Zelda in the opening scene. You may even fist pump when the ethereal “choose your Zelda file” music plays during an early dream sequence. By the time you hear the announcer from Tekken exclaim “KO!” as Scott defeats the first evil Ex you’ll undoubtedly have a shit-eating grin on your face.
My personal favorite, though, was a scene in which Scott tries to deflect attention away from his girl issues by exclaiming to his band, “Hey guys, I learned the bass line from Final Fantasy II!” He then proceeds to play the battle theme from Final Fantasy II on his bass guitar!
Edgar Wright earns +999 geek credibility!
While Scott Pilgrim Vs The World’s video game references may receive the lion’s share of attention, music also plays a huge role in the film as well. Besides the core love story, the film is also about Scott’s band, Sex Bob-Omb (+200 points if you can name that reference), as it progresses through multiple battle-of-the-bands competitions in its quest to receive a lucrative label deal.
Sex Bob-Omb’s music is actually done by Beck and he hasn’t sounded this lo-fi and raw since 1994’s “Loser.” There’s no shortage of actual musical talent standing in for the other in-film “bands” either. Members of Broken Social Scene play Crash and the Boys’ music while Canadian indie rockers Metric stand in for the heavenly Clash at Demonhead. To top it all off, renowned producer Nigel Godrich (Radiohead’s “sixth member”) composes an 8-bit infused punk score for the film.
Eagle-eyed viewers will notice Scott Pilgrim wearing different band T-shirts throughout the film. Plumtree and The Smashing Pumpkins (with the apropos “SP” logo) come to mind. Hell, there’s even a Tragically Hip acknowledgement in the movie! (The movie is set in Canada, after all)
The film itself is a fantastic concert of grin-inducing visual and audio effects, endearing acting, and witty repartee. Edgar Wright’s previous two films have shown that he’s a master of quick edits, scene transitions, and comedic timing. These skills allow him take Scott Pilgrim’s visual panache to dizzying heights.
It may sound trite at this point to declare that a movie is like a comic book brought to life, but it’s truly appropriate for this film. This movie is like a comic book brought to life.
Seriously, no other film this side of Sin City has come this close to imagining what a comic book would look like with live on-screen characters. Verbs and phrases in stylized lettering slickly animate onto the screen when the action calls for it. Multiple split screens capture character reactions, evoking images of split comic panels. Scenes quickly cut from one to another seamlessly, giving the feeling of hurriedly flipping to find out what’s on the next page. The film’s style is just as much of a star as any of the actors and will quite probably be the focus of word-of-mouth buzz.
image courtesy of entertainment weekly
Scott Pilgrim’s cast is a veritable who’s who of a new generation of talented Hollywood actors. Many will talk about Kieran Culkin stealing the show as Scott’s gay roommate, Wallace, and deservedly so. His grounded wisdom and comedic chops would make even a straight man want to sleep in the same bed with him. Ellen Wong is an adorable manga character come to life as Knives Chau. It’s hard to imagine that this is her film debut, as she nails every scene she’s in.
Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays a confident and cool Ramona Flowers – I just wish there was more time to fall in love with her. The film clocks in at just about 2 hours, but between squeezing in 7 epic fight scenes and establishing Scott’s world, there’s not much time for Ramona’s character to breathe and develop fully. Anna Kendrick, Aubrey Plaza, Mark Webber, Alison Pill, and Johnny Webber round out Scott’s group of friends and they all lend their own charm to the film.
On the dark side of the room, Chris Evans, Brandon Routh, and Jason Schwartzman delight in tormenting our precious little Scott Pilgrim. Evans in particular is memorable as an over the top skateboarder/movie star whose voice can be only described as Gob Bluth mixed with Christian Bale’s Batman. Even “unknown” actor, Satya Bhabha, has an epic Bollywood-meets-mystical-internet-humor fight scene as Ramona’s first “Evil Ex,” Matthew Patel.
I realize that the Michael Cera backlash is out in full force, but please don’t let whatever feelings you may have on him stop you from seeing this film. His performance is decidedly Ceran, but he does do the Scott Pilgrim character justice. If you want to, you can even talk yourself into believing that Cera has increased his acting range to include nerd-rage and almost-asshole.
Plus, if you’re an Arrested Development fan you won’t want to miss the George Michael/Ann reunion during the film. Yes, Mae Whitman is in this movie and no, she’s not quite as…homely.
I’m 28 years old. I’ve seen movies in the past that I could partly relate to as a portrait of a generation. Cameron Crowe’s Say Anything comes to mind as a particular highlight. I just wasn’t born in the right era to call it my own.
With Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, my generation finally has its Say Anything. That is, if Lloyd Dobler could wield a flaming sword and inflict a 64-hit air combo on Diane’s dad.
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World opens in US theaters on August 13th.
It wasn’t due to deficient game playing skills on my part or any bugs or faults with the game’s programming. No, I had a tough time playing through Limbo because I was genuinely unsettled by the hauntingly melancholy game atmosphere with its grainy black and white visuals and sparse, yet disturbing ambient sounds and audio cues.
You may think I’m talking about a new survival horror game, but I’m not. Limbo is a 2D platforming puzzle game.
“How is this possible?” you may ask. Just watch this short trailer:
I found it appropriate that the protagonist of the game is a young boy because a lot of what disturbed me in Limbo scared me as a child. I have a ghastly fear of spiders, insects, and man eating plants that crystallized in my youth somewhere between the piranha plants in Super Mario Bros. and the insects in Daikatana.
Death in Limbo is also an infinitely more powerful on screen event because it is happening to a little boy. My first death happened via running into a bear trap on the ground. The trap chomped my boy into an aerial concerto of bloody body parts which then collapsed limply to the ground. It quickly became obvious that I wasn’t going to be playing Rayman.
One particular scene early in the game has you walk by a white butterfly on the ground who flies off towards a tree that is clearly harboring a giant black spider lurking in the branches above. I must have spent a good five minutes sitting in my chair, paralyzed. I saw no obvious route around the tree, yet there was no fucking way I wanted to walk under three giant spider legs. Given that the game had established a precedent for grisly deaths by that point, I especially did not want to see what this spider was going to do to the little boy.
Eventually, I excruciatingly faced my fears and found a way past the spider situation. The game may “just” be in black and white, but the realistic animations of the boy and the world combine with the game’s desolate atmosphere to create a completely immersive experience.
Who are you? Why are you here? Where are you?
These are questions Danish developer Playdead want you to wonder about while playing through Limbo. And they did, in fact, linger in the back of my mind throughout the game’s first half, especially with the appearance of other humanoids (dead and alive). However, as the game progressed, I found myself caring less and less about these things and just focusing on what my next destination was and how to reach it. In other words, gameplay became the driving motivational force, not the search for greater meaning in the story.
A word about the gameplay: much of it is based on a “die first, figure out why after you respawn” paradigm. During your first playthrough you should expect to die often and die unexpectedly. This may sound like a frustrating nightmare, but for the most part isn’t, because there are bountiful checkpoints that place you close to your place of death. However, there are a couple of places in the game where I repeatedly yelled “Come on!” at my screen because I could not discern a certain goal and the death checkpoint forced me to play through a previous section before I could take a crack at it again.
Comparisons to Jonathan Blow’s breakthrough “indie” game, Braid, are bound to pop up due to both games belonging to a similar genre. I’ll take a shot at declaring a “winner” by saying that Limbo doesn’t quite reach Braid from both a gameplay and narrative standpoint. Overall, Limbo’s puzzles aren’t as elegantly designed as Braid’s. Many of the more difficult ones require precision timing and button pressing dexterity to solve problems, rather than imaginative and cereberal solutions. That’s not to say Limbo is poorly designed – there are some wonderfully devious puzzles that give a real sense of fulfillment once you figure them out. It just doesn’t feel as naturally rewarding as Braid did.
Braid’s narrative benefited from the use of prose in its introductory and ending sequences. These words really tugged at me emotionally and provided context for the story it was trying to get across. Limbo, on the other hand, does not have one word of text within the game. It relies solely on its greatest strength, its visual and audio atmosphere, to convey its message. Limbo starts off strong in this regard, but the sense of uneasy wonderment slowly peters out until the ending is reached. It’s an ending which I feel tries to capture the same level of existential meaningfulness as Braid, but ultimately falls short.
Having said all of this, Limbo still comes highly recommended if you enjoy playing puzzle platformers and/or delight in immersive and unique art styles. It’s unquestionably the best downloadable game I have played in 2010 thus far. Just be warned if you have qualms about viewing gruesome child deaths or have fear of giant insects.
One final tip: Don’t read the game’s description on Xbox Live Marketplace if you can avoid doing so. I think the game’s ultimate meaning is far more interesting and thought provoking were I not to have read the short premise on the description. For me, it was a throwaway fact that served to only narrow the possibilities of the game’s conclusion.
Limbo costs 1200 Microsoft Points ($15) as a downloadable title from the Xbox Live Marketplace. There is a trial version that encompasses the first two game chapters.
When a gyroscope was announced as one of the new features of the iPhone 4 a few weeks ago, I was admittedly a bit nonplussed. After all, didn’t we already have tilt gaming on the iPhone?
Like the Wii Motion Plus, all it took was some hands on gameplay experience before I “got” it.
Eliminate: Gun Range is a simple shooting gallery game that requires the iPhone 4. (supposedly a 3GS version is on the way) You’ll earn credits by hitting a certain target number threshold on a given range scenario. Credits can then be used to unlock more guns and challenge levels to play. The game itself not very original, but the method of control is.
Aiming in Gun Range utilizes the iPhone 4’s gyroscope to present a 1:1 movement to graphics representation on the screen ratio. Think about how fluid the screen display is when you use the camera app to take a picture. Now imagine that smooth display in a game. That’s basically how Gun Range feels. The graphics are also very nice, taking advantage of the Retina Display, but the star of this show is the control scheme.
It’s almost more of a tech demo than a fleshed out game, but there’s enough entertainment in this $0.99 package that it’s worth keeping around to play even after you’re done showing off your new iPhone 4 to your friends. I can’t wait to see where this leads iPhone game developers. If nothing else, we’ll have a great way of aiming in iPhone first person shooters.
After making it alive out of downtown Los Angeles last week, I thought I’d start the week off by posting my big picture E3 2010 recap first and then work on putting up individual title previews as the week progresses, Memento-style. I’ve got a ton of good stuff from E3 and I’m just one dude, so bear with me this week while the sausage is made.
Contrary to what some sensationalists will say, the gaming industry is not crumbling before our very eyes. E3 2010 was not a complete disaster, nor was it an undeniable success. It was, for lack of a better term, average. Generally, the most memorable E3 years tend to be those where new console generations are announced or a blockbuster game franchise debuts on said new consoles. Unfortunately, we just happen to be in the current generation’s mid-life point. A new Halo title for Xbox 360 just doesn’t have that “wow” factor of being the first Halo title on the Xbox 360. In spite of this, it was still exciting to try out new ways of playing games in the form of motion and 3D gaming. Whether or not this actually panned out…well that’s an issue we’ll get to.
The Press Conferences
I want to address the “Big 3” press conferences first. Video game pundits and fanboys alike take part in the yearly ritual of declaring “Who won E3?” as if the show was a competition. I’m not going to pretend I’m above this sort of thing, so here’s my ranking of the press events:
1. Nintendo
2. (tie) Sony and Microsoft
Nintendo’s event was far and away the most compelling of the show. It was tightly presented, contained minimal gaffes (only miyamoto’s controller issues), and had the most “surprises” in terms of great games we didn’t know about prior to the show (Goldeneye, Kirby, Donkey Kong Country, Epic Mickey). To top it off, Nintendo announced a new piece of hardware that we had heard only rumors of before, the 3DS. With a robust roster of developers and franchises (e.g. Metal Gear, Resident Evil, Kingdom Hearts), the 3DS looks like it’ll be a force to be reckoned with next year.
Sony’s event wasn’t as embarrassing as Microsoft’s, presentation-wise, but didn’t provide much in the “wow” department. A new David Jaffe-helmed Twisted Metal game is pretty cool, but it doesn’t quite carry the weight of a Donkey Kong Country or Goldeneye remake. An appearance and endorsement by Valve’s Gabe Newell as “best” platform for Portal 2 was a huge coup for Sony’s credibility. Playstation Move wasn’t as cringe-inducing as Kinect’s demos the day before, but didn’t do much to sell the platform as anything more than a glorified Wiimote.
I had already written about Microsoft’s presentation last week. It had some really cool moments (ESPN and New Xbox 360s for everyone!) balanced by some facepalmy ones too (every word uttered by an executive, Kinectimals). Overall, I felt it evened out to around Sony’s level once I took into account the peaks and valleys of the presentation.
As a short aside, I really feel that Apple has raised the bar for geek press events since the iPhone announcement in January, 2007. Steve Jobs’ and crew are incredibly well rehearsed keynote machines. Say what you want about the guy, but he doesn’t give ho-hum or embarrassing (wifi issues withstanding) presentations. Every time you hear him talk, you can’t help but feel the urge to buy whatever he’s selling to you. Sony/Nintendo/Microsoft? Not so much.
The Show Floor
If you’ve never been to E3 before, the best way to describe it is an indoor Times Square. There is an overwhelming rush of sensory overload the moment you walk into either of the large halls. Gigantic 100+ inch HD screens pepper the showfloor. Disneyland-like booth constructions, like a haunted house or a post-apocalyptic shelter, are the norm. It’s quite unlike anything you’ve seen indoors.
There’s no way I could see everything at the show, even over the course of three days, so I tried to sample the titles I’ve been anticipating prior to the show along with the new hardware that was announced. I also kept my eyes and ears open for stuff people were buzzing about and caught a couple of interesting titles I would’t have thought of otherwise.
All three console manufacturers (Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft) and virtually all of the major games software publishers had a presence at the show. Countless other small games publishers and accessories manufacturers had booths as well. There was even a company called “Gamer Grub” that sells “performance snack foods.” Yeah. Really.
Other than Blizzard (who are so big they have their own yearly expo, Blizzcon), the only major games publisher that was conspicuously absent from the show floor this year was parent company Activision. However, the big A-B’s presence was still felt during the week as Uncle Bobby Kotick put on an absolutely ridiculous $6 million concert/party on Monday. We’re talking indoor fireworks and a private concert that would put many music festivals to shame. (some artists: Eminem, Rihanna, Chris Cornell, deadmau5, David Guetta, Usher, Maynard James Keenan, Jane’s Addiction) I mean, why spend the money on an E3 booth when you can just throw the most insane party ever. Fuck Cirque du Soleil’s Kinect premiere, why didn’t MTV broadcast this event?
The Takeaway Themes
I came away from E3 2010 taking away 3 prevalent themes: Motion Gaming, 3D Gaming, and Sequels Galore. I had originally intended to elaborate on these themes in this recap, but ended up with a 3000 word monstrosity, so I split this up into another article. You can read that here.
Here is the TL;DR version:
3D Gaming – They work as advertised. The effect isn’t annoying and is actually kind of cool. Not significant enough to warrant replacing your home theater or current Nintendo DS, though.
Sequels Galore – We’re getting too many sequels too frequently. They’re becoming too predictable and unexciting. It’d be great if we increased the time between major franchise entries at the very least. Ideally, the interim years would see the release of more original titles.
Motion Gaming – Mixed bag here. The first party Kinect and Playstation Move titles were generally uninspiring, but there were a couple of standout third-party games that make convincing arguments for buying a motion gaming controller. Dance Central by Harmonix and Child of Eden by Ubisoft are titles that couldn’t have been done with current consoles and provide truly fun experiences. If I had to pick between the Kinect or Move, I would go with the Kinect. Simpler, cheaper, and true hands-free motion gaming is hard to argue with.
Warning: This game requires patience. If you have none, stay away. It’s not a straight shooter.
If you’ve ever wanted to be as badass, cunning, and ruthless as Jack Bauer in a video game, Splinter Cell Conviction is the game for you. Do you want to act out one (or several) of Jack Bauer’s famous interrogation scenes? Done. There are almost an excessive number of situations for you to brutally ask bad guys where stuff is. Conviction’s situation is a departure from previous games in the series. Longtime protagonist Sam Fisher is not ostensibly working with any sort of government agency. For most of the game Fisher’s only contact with “the good guys” is with a woman he used to work with in the government. Sound familiar?
I loved the way new objectives are presented to you in this game. Many have called the way the game projects text onto the game world “Fringe Lettering” (yes, referring to the JJ Abrams show). I’d say it goes a bit further, as the show’s lettering is limited to large block letters hanging in mid air introducing new locations. Conviction goes a step further andblends the text into walls and objects in the world seamlessly. More games need to do this.
Diehard Splinter Cell fans lamented the loss of certain gameplay elements such as hiding bodies. I found it refreshing. Hiding bodies always felt like a chore, rather than “ooh, this is cool because it’s realistic.” Fisher has a new trick called “Execution” where you can mark anywhere between 2-4 targets (depending on how much you’ve upgraded your gun) and can instantly kill them all with one button if you are within line of sight. It’s balanced since you have to “earn” the right to do this by successfully melee killing someone. While some critics may complain this cheapens the gameplay, at the end of the day, it serves to make the player feel like a badass. I’m ok with this. I want to be the action hero I see in the final cut of film. I’m ok with cutting out “realistic” elements for more fun.
Broken down into its core elements, Conviction is a sequence of situations in which Sam Fisher has to deal with bad guys who don’t know he’s there. Usually, I’d start off trying to take out everyone stealthily from the shadows. I’m not one for elaborate planning, so invariably I’d get seen, shit would hit the fan, and I’d have to shoot my way out of the mess. Oftentimes this would end in failure, but since I’m an above-average shooter player, I imagine I brute-forced my way through more than most players would. Generally, Conviction does a good job of preventing you from just run and gunning your way through the game, as a veritable clown bus of bad guys will swarm you if you try to do this. (Protip: There are always more dudes in the room than you think there are.)
I played through the single-player campaign through on “Realistic” difficulty. I usually play most games on normal difficulty, but I strongly recommend that you play this game on “Realistic” if you do. Playing through on anything less will give you far more leeway to run and gun your way through the game and I think that detracts from the experience. The most memorable moments you will have while playing will be the stealth kills and planned gadget kills, not the machinegun kills you get from playing Call of Duty style.
My favorite moment in the game was a planned attack where I planted a remote explosive on the ground next to a pair of armed guards. I scaled the building to their right, overlooking another guard from behind. Jumping down, I broke the neck of the hapless guard from behind. The original pair saw this and began to run towards me. Calmly, I pressed the button, detonated the explosive, and took out the remaining guards LIKE A BOSS.
The biggest complaint people have of Conviction is the “insta-fail” section well-into the game. I can’t defend this; it’s some bullshit. I’d like to think there’s a better solution to forcing players to act in a stealthy manner. However, part of the reason I got through it with minimal yelling at the screen was due to my Realistic difficulty training. By the time I got to the chapter in question, I was already used to basically “insta-failing” if I was detected (due to the immense swarms of enemies and inability to absorb much gunfire). It still sucked, though, because I could do everything right except for one tiny mistake, and I’d be forced to reload a checkpoint. Perhaps a better way of enforcing this would be to elevate the difficulty level to Realistic for everyone, regardless of what they are playing at. It’ll train the player to be more stealthy, but also give them the feeling that they could progress even if they make a mistake.
It’ll take a certain type of mindset to succeed and have fun with Conviction. You need to be prepared to be methodical and inconspicuous. If you can and are willing to do this, I guarantee you will have a great time with this game.
Postgame is a new experimental segment on the blog where I give my thoughts on a recently finished game. It’s not as comprehensive as a review, but not as brief as a tweet.
Sam and Max Visit The Alien Brain
Playing Sam and Max Episode 1: The Penal Zone on the iPad was like dating a gorgeous, funny woman who was prone to random crazy breakdowns. You put up with the crazy stuff because you love the highs and try to ignore the lows. The Penal Zone has gorgeous graphics and fully voiced characters. The game’s presentation is pretty much exactly what you would see on the PC or Xbox 360. Unfortunately, it’s pretty obvious Telltale Games didn’t have access to a preproduction iPad because the number of technical issues that plagued this title were abundant. Random crashes, freezes, sporadic long load times, and framerate slowdowns plagued my playthrough of the game. (Coming from a PC game “save early and often” background, the crashes never set me back too far.) I’m sure they did the best that they could to make the launch date given what they had to work with, but telling the user to reboot the iPad each time he wants to play, DOS boot disk style, is almost too much to ask. On the bright side, I think Telltale knew this and that’s why the price of the game was lowered to $6.99 (from $9.99).
Max Versus Stinky
I’m going to be honest and say I have never been that great at adventure games. Inevitably I’d always end up using a walkthrough for some or most of the game. With that said, I’m proud to say I completed all of The Penal Zone without looking to the internet for help. I’d like to say it’s all due to my leet deductive reasoning skillz, but it’s mainly a credit to great game design. There’s an excellent subtle hint system manifested through one of Max’s new psychic powers, future vision. With it, you can see what the future of certain items/people brings. Armed with this information, you can divine what you should do next. It’s a great way to help dense players like me get on the right track while making them feel awesome for figuring things out own their own. Max’s other main psychic power, teleportation, adds an almost Portal-like way to approach problems.
RAWRAHGUAHRHG
The Penal Zone is a great adventure game. You’d be hard pressed to find a more high quality 3-4 hour experience on the iPad. It’s just a shame the technical issues mar the otherwise awesome game. If you have the patience to deal with some slowdowns and random crashes, it’s a recommended purchase on the iPad since it’s only $6.99. Otherwise, I’d recommend getting it on the 360/PS3/PC/MAC platforms. It’ll cost a bit more, but you’re paying for stability.
Without question, one of the killer apps for the iPad is the ability to read comics/graphic novels digitally. While the screen size of the iPad isn’t exactly 1:1 with the size of a comic, it’s close enough to provide an almost identical reading experience. It might be even better than the real thing, since you can easily screen shot pages and email them to friends. No other device on the market currently can offer this capability. In fact, I’ve probably spent more time reading digital comics on the iPad than doing anything else on it so far.
You’ll need to download an app to read comics, as there’s no built-in function on the iPad to do so. I’ve been using Bitolithic’s Comic Zeal 4 for iPad since launch week and have put it through its paces.
TL;DR version of this review: While not perfect, Comic Zeal is worth the $7.99 price if you intend to spend any significant time reading multiple comic files on your iPad.
File Import:
Comic Zeal 4 supports the .cbr, .cbz, and.cbi filetypes for digital comics import. I haven’t come across a situation yet where I needed more filetypes supported, but if you need PDF or RAR support, you’ll need to either convert them or find another app. Transferring comics to the iPad is very simple. You plug in your iPad to your computer’s USB port, navigate to the Apps tab in iTunes, and click on the Comic Zeal icon under the “file sharing” section. From there, you drag and drop any number of comic files to transfer them over. I found transfer speeds comparable to those of mp3 files. Finally, the next time you open the Comic Zeal app on your iPad, there will be a short processing queue for all of the comics you transferred earlier. In the initial version of the app, this process took an unbearably long time. Fortunately, the 4.0.2 update addressed this and the queue is now a minor inconvenience. According to the developer, this extra bit of processing is needed in order to optimize reading performance for the iPad.
I’d like to see a form of Wi-Fi syncing in the future, preferably a solution that accounts for batch file importing. (Update: I’ve been informed that you can do this currently via Comic Zeal Sync, a free Java app downloadable from the Bitolithic website. It is very simple to use and sync. No fiddling with network settings is necessary. It would still be nice to have a solution that doesn’t require the installation of a standalone app, though.) I can see myself in situations where I’m away from my main PC, but would like the capability to add content to read. The recently released free Cloud Reader app offers this capability, but requires far too many clicks in order to get over a large number of files.
The UI:
Comic Zeal UI
As you can see above, Comic Zeal makes good use of pop-over window panes in its interface. The biggest strength of Comic Zeal is its thoughtful interface for organizing and navigating your collection. All of the comics in your collection are represented by icons of the actual comic’s cover. You can then sort your comics into graphically represented long comic boxes (think folders) via a slick tap interface. Once you go into edit mode by tapping the edit button, you can then tap the comics you want to select. Selected comics will jiggle, like when you manipulate icons on the iPad home page. From there you can either delete the selected comics or move them into an “other” or existing folder. You can also change the view to display only icons or text and icons. It’s pretty nice, but there are a few nits I’d pick. A “select all” button would be nice, along with a clarification that the “other…” selection on the move window really means “new folder”. Also, the ability to rename folders seems like an obvious oversight. Finally, as cool as the “jiggling” animation looks, it can be hard to tell what’s jiggling and whats not when you have an entire screen of icons selected. Some simple checkboxes may provide a more salient solution. Nevertheless, organizing your digital collection on Comic Zeal is a treat.
The other icons I didn’t find as useful. The “Recents” and “Downloads” sections are currently useless as they puts the most recently accessed or downloaded files on the bottom, forcing you to scroll through pages before getting to them. (Bitolithic has confirmed this as an issue and will have it fixed for a future release.) There’s also a “Featured” button which should be labeled most appropriately as “Download” or “Store”. From there, you can download selected golden age and Flashback Universe comics for free.
The Reading Experience:
Comic Zeal 4’s reading experience is polished. Your trusty swipe and pinch gestures make it intuitive to flip pages and zoom in and out. Unlike it’s competition, pages are displayed in the correct order and distinctly on each screen. Splash pages automatically resize to fit width-wise in portrait form. You’ll probably want to rotate the screen to landscape in order to properly read the pages without zooming.
There are a few puzzling interface decisions, though. I’ve been trained by iBooks, Kindle, instapaper, Goodreader, and countless other apps that single tapping the middle of the screen hides and shows the menu bars. Single tapping in Comic Zeal zooms in to wherever you tap. It takes a double tap (or a tap on the watermarked arrow) to bring up the menu. You can change this behavior by going into the iPad settings section, but it’s odd as to why the default settings aren’t set up like most iPad apps. I also found myself constantly wanting to tap the margins to change pages, but the app doesn’t have that capability yet. (Bitolithic promises this will be in the new version.)
Buttons on the bottom bar allow you to snap a screen shot, lock the screen orientation, open a file, page forward and backwards, and seek to a page with a slider. I love the screen shot button, as it provides an obvious way to snap a page to share with people. In future versions, I’d like to see this expanded upon to allow for a screen shot of selected panels and easy access to share them via twitter/email/etc. It would also be great to have a way to read lots of consecutive single issues without having to navigate the collection through multiple taps. Perhaps the arrow keys on the bottom menu could be used for next/previous issue in a folder.
Reading in Comic Zeal is a breeze once you learn the quirks of the interface. It’s relatively clean, but could be so much better with a few small changes.
Conclusion:
At iPad launch, Comic Zeal was one of two solutions for reading your own comics digitally. It still is, with the difference being that the alternative app, Cloud Reader, is now free rather than more expensive. That being said, I still think Comic Zeal provides enough in the way of features to warrant the purchase if you plan on frequently reading digital comics. If you’re only looking for an app to demo to your friends or read a digital comic file here and there, you’re better off with the official Marvel app or Cloud Reader.
A promising sign with Comic Zeal is that Bitolithic appears to be listening to feedback and has provided transparency in their development process through their twitter feed. $7.99 is a bit more than an impulse purchase on the app store, but for an app i use constantly, I consider it worth the investment. If Bitolithic follows through on its promises and continually evolves Comic Zeal, it could be the beacon for a true digital comics revolution.
Well, due to the ineptitude of AT&T in providing adequate SMS or data service at Coachella this year, most of my tweets during the festival didn’t get out. All in all, I enjoyed the music and the festival. At least, when I could actually be in the venue.
Here’s a rough timeline of what would have been sent out (some of them actually did manage to squirm out):
Day 1
2:15PM – Left house at 12:30 and still stuck in immovable traffic. Had to pee on the side of a main road, public be damned.
3:30PM – Stuck in a immovable line to get wristbands for event entry. People are cutting in the front because there’s no security.
4:30PM – Officially pissed that I missed one of the bands I wanted to see the most, Yeasayer. Regretting coming to this thing.
4:45PM – Line is finally moving. Apparently the ticket scanning system went down for a couple hours. Heads better roll for this bullshit.
5:15PM – Feel a bit less cranky after eating some surprisingly good Thai BBQ. I can hear Tom Morello playing a song I don’t know.
6:00PM – She & Him is surprisingly entertaining. The songs are a lot more uptempo and fun than I was expecting. Delightful festival warmup.
6:05PM – Have to admit, zooey deschanel is lookin pretty adorable on stage http://twitpic.com/1g4wq9
7:45PM – Even a mediocre live band like Passion Pit can be great fun with the right crowd. Dancing/singing with the chorus of Little Secrets was a great moment.
8:15PM – I know everyone swears by Grizzly Bear, but I’m finding his set boring. It’s one of those “you have to know the material” situations. I didn’t.
8:25PM – Stopped by La Roux. She sounds okay, nothing extraordinary. Not going to wade through that crowd for “In For The Kill”.
8: 45PM – I only know the Echo and the Bunnymen hits. They’re not playing them, so I’m getting out of here.
9:15PM – The sound for LCD Soundsystem is amazing.
9:30PM – James Murphy is incredibly awkward on stage. He could have command of the crowd, but he’s rambling like a insecure nerd onstage.
10:15PM – LCD Soundsystem had a couple chances to be an epic set, but never quite got there. Going to walk by Vampire Weekend.
10:20PM – Heard Cousins being played and promptly turned around to get a beer.
10:30PM – Pretty ridiculous that the main stage is playing a recorded Vampire Weekend song while the actual band is on the other stage.
11:15PM – Jay-Z makes his entrance by rising from under the stage floor to the intro of “We Run This Town”. As the bass kicks in, he authoritatively commands the audience to bounce. We obey.
11:45PM – The soundsystem here is unreal. Hiphop bass has never sounded so clear. Best mainstream rap show I have seen so far.
12:25AM – Big Pimpin’ starts. The crowd starts to go nuts before Jigga stops it, telling us that we aren’t ready yet. He then continues on with another song. Fucking awesome.
12:35AM – No Dr. Dre or Alicia Keyes appearance, but we get Beyonce as the surprise guest.
12:45AM – Damn, I didn’t plan on staying for all of Jay-Z, but I couldn’t resist.
12:50AM – I have to make a decision to see the end of The Whitest Boy Alive or deadmau5 – I go with Whitest Boy, but really wanted to do both. Damn you, scheduling!
12:55AM – Erlend Oye looks like a dweebier young Bill Gates, if that’s even possible. Still, this set is really good. I gotta see them when they tour next.
3:30AM – Fuck traffic and crowds and lines and godawful parking infrastructure.
Day 2
3:15PM – Well that wasn’t as bad getting in this time. Took a back route and lot. Missed my boy Frank Turner, but a noon start time is untenable.
3:30PM – Day two starts with bluegrass from old crow medicine show. Haven’t seen a guy string his own guitar in awhile. http://twitpic.com/1gmxkt
4:45PM – Have a nice spot by the soundboard for Beach House. The music is inoffensive, but not really grabbing me. Guess it’s a similar situation to Grizzly Bear.
5:40PM – Man does the girl from Gossip have pipes, this is an awesomely fun set. Crowd loves them.
6:20PM – Holy shit, the entire LCD Soundsystem band is on stage, along with more people I don’t recognize. It’s madness in here.
6:35PM – Stayed for the last couple songs of The Raveonettes set. I like them, but the end of their set was a far cry from the energy level of Gossip’s.
6:45PM – Well, The XX is good music for listening to while you’re eating dinner.
7:15PM – Seem to have found a great spot for Hot Chip with a raucous group of South Americans who sing and do chants. This is going to be awesome.
7:45PM – Steel drums are back, baby! I was wondering where they had gone, but I’m positive I’ve seen at least 3 bands use them so far.
8:20PM – Using Aterciopelados’ set to recover. They’re actually not bad rockers. Too bad I don’t understand Spanish.
9:35PM – Some kid tries to move past me in a crowd. He says he’s trying to get away from his mom who’s in the crowd behind him for fear she’ll ground him from video games for 2 weeks. wat.
9:45PM – Spent the last 50 minutes in the dance tent with Kaskade and David Guetta. Sensory overload. Bass made my entire body shake. Wish I had drugs.
9:55PM – Major Lazer is fucking amazing!! There’s two Chinese dragons onstage with a black chick in a wedding gown. This is a real party.
10:15PM – Get news that Danny Devito ran shirtless across the stage during Faith No More. That sounds fun.
10:30PM – Muse is way less intense than that dance tent was. They still rock though.
11:20PM – Man, The Dead Weather really vacillate between awesome and boring. Love the blues stuff, hate the slow shit.
12:00AM – F. Dee and mac from it’s always sunny in Philadelphia bumped into my friend wearing a paddys pub shirt at the beer tent and I wasn’t there!
12:15AM – Eating pizza while on a bench with a view of Tiesto on the main stage. I think I’d need to plan my day around Tiesto to properly enjoy his set.
12:18AM – Is it just me or does Tiesto look like Christian Slater? Also, lasers.
12:20AM – Someone brought the wrong visuals for Tiesto, the screen just addressed “Austin”.
12:22AM – There we go, Coachella lets make some noise!
12:50AM – Having to decide between the end of 2ManyDJ’s or Devo, I go with Devo in the hopes of getting “Whip It”. Got old dudes stripping into tshirts and boxers instead.
4:00AM – Fuck traffic and crowds and lines and godawful parking infrastructure.
Day 3
2:45PM – Really surprised to have made it inside the venue in time to catch the end of Local Natives. They were pretty good.
3:45PM – No idea what to have expected for Mayer Hawthorne, but this is kinda cool. Fairly young white dude singing soul. People are dancing, including shirtless pothead in front of me with a gut and no pectorals.
4:10PM – My friend explains to me the lols of Mayer introducing his “break up song” with “Coachella I’m sorry to do this to you but…” Hilarious.
4:15PM – Walk by Deerhunter, didn’t look like a meat jackpot Deerhunter set so continued to De La Soul.
4:20PM – De La Soul is pretty boring. Nothing else to do but sit on the grass and chill. Too lazy to walk to Florence and the Machine for a couple minutes.
4:50PM – Surprised to hear Sunny Day Real Estate play Seven so early in their set. Not complaining, this song rules.
5:20PM – Decided to check out Yo La Tengo. Love the pop songs and synchronized light dancing, really dislike the masturbatory jam sessions. Cool how all 3 band members play everything.
6:15PM – Really dig the soundscape that Jonsi/Sigur Ros create. The songs seem a bit more uptempo than Sigur Ros. Plus he’s got a really cool festive outfit and headdress.
6:50PM – Made it into a nice spot by the soundboard for Miike Snow. The band comes out in masks and amidst smoke.
7:15PM – The album is good, but the live show is amazing. This stuff needs to be turned up LOUD!
7:30PM – Would definitely see Miike Snow again.
7:45PM – There’s a ridiculous amount of people for Phoenix, not going to bother getting close for this.
8:00PM – Just realized I only really like 1901 and If I Ever Feel Better from Phoenix anyway. Glad I got to hear those at the end.
8:15PM – Holy laser light show at Little Boots! She’s pretty fun too.
9:05PM – Caught the last few minutes of Orbital’s DJ set. Heard an amazing mix of Halcyon with Belinda Carlisle and Bon Jovi. Lamp shades baby!
9:30PM – As much as I love Radiohead, I’m pretty sick of The Eraser. Some of the songs just don’t translate well to large venues.
9:30PM – That being said, adding someone like Flea really makes the bass come alive for songs like Harrowdown Hill.
12:30AM – Forewent gorillaz to beat the coachella traffic. Surprisingly it worked! Already at the daily pint in Santa Monica playing shuffleboard.
I’m going to be honest with you. I’m a gadget freak. My friends know this. My colleagues know this. I know this. For example, I am one of the assholes who has bought all three Nintendo DS SKU’s on consecutive launch dates. That’s right, despite owning perfectly functional DS phat and lites, I’ve also managed to also buy a DSi.
Knowing my weakness for cool new revisions of handhelds, I’m sure you’ll agree with me that Sony has accomplished something extraordinary with their recently released PSP Go. They have, in fact, created a product that I have no desire to purchase.
