Game Review: Dead Space 2

Posted by Natasha Bennett



In my Dead Space 1 review, I strongly criticized the lack of likable characters, the cringe-worthy dialogue, and a story that was for the most part ripped off. I was worried it would be the same for Dead Space 2. It wasn’t helped by the trailers portraying different voice actors for the main character Isaac. In some cases he was a whiny emo and in others he was a deep-throated bad-ass. It was a little jarring.

Well, as it turns out, I didn’t have anything to worry about. Dead Space 2 is a genuinely great game for the most part, with likeable characters and decent dialogue.

After being rescued from the Ishimura, Isaac is committed to a metal asylum for three years and spends most of that time in stasis. He wakes up just as the Necromorphs attack, and what follows is the best ten minutes of a game I’ve ever seen.



The game has a graphical upgrade, but I have to give points to the level designer. There are some really detailed and colourful levels of this game, replacing the bland grey-on-grey of the Ishimura. Unfortunately, the blandness rears its ugly head in the second half of the game. This is arguably because Isaac heads up to the maintenance levels of the game, but it’s still an unwelcome change.

Dead Space 2 is just as difficult, if not more, as its predecessor. Even on a normal difficulty save spots are few and far between, as are supplies. Enemies will swarm you, especially in the second half of the game. GAMEPLAY PRO TIP: I seriously recommend running away from the swarm in some situations. Monsters normally can’t follow you in the next room and you will need as much ammo as you can spare.



As I said before, the dialogue and voice-acting are decent, particularly Nicole’s character. There are also some genuinely bone-chilling moments in this game. My only gripe is to get to those moments you have to do a lot of fighting. There are a few other disappointments as well. There is no extra content besides Dead Space Extraction (which I already had), and I’ve heard that the multiplayer is pretty lame so far. Just a warning.

FINAL GRADE: 4 out of 5. A definite improvement from the first game, and the first half will immerse the player. Unfortunately, the second half starts to get repetitive.

So here’s what I don’t get. Isaac can dismember thousands of creatures, but whenever he fights a human, he either dies instantly or gets captured?

Sunday, January 30, 2011
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And now, for a cryptic message.....

Posted by Natasha Bennett

Hi guys,

First of all, thanks to all the new people who joined my blog! It's much appreciated and I hope I'm a little entertaining. :)

I have an announcement. Over the next few months there will be......(gasp) changes on this blog!



Nah, it's not that dramatic. These are changes I knew I would have to eventually make from day one when I started this blog. And this is good news, believe me, as I've been waiting a while for some things to happen first and the wait is finally over!

One of the more minor things I might change is the look of this blog. I've never been too fond of how narrow it is. I'll either change that, change the backround, or even the whole template!

Anyone have any suggestions on what they would like to see improved? If you tell me I'll give you a cookie! (in the mail, which will conveniently get lost between the US/Canadian border).

Cheers,
Natasha

Monday, January 24, 2011
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Movie Review: T-Force

Posted by Natasha Bennett

Today let's talk about the T-Force!


 

Um.....no. Not that T-Force. This T-force:




Although if you got the Asylum Films version, (which I do have) the cover looks more like a rip-off of Terminator. This movie stars a group of police officers who are also robots. And this is suprisingly a decent film. I say that even though this is the opening sequence to the movie:

video 

The first twenty minutes of the movie is equally bad, ripping off Die Hard more than anything else. Long story short, T-Force screws up and innocent lives are lost. The mayor demands that the T-Force robots are shut down. All the robots rebel except for one called Caine, and it's up to this one robot and a cop who hates AI to stop them from wiping out the city. 

As a science-fiction movie, it fails. As a buddy cop, this movie is surprisingly decent, especially when they get the robots out of the silly uniforms. 


The action is pretty decent, and there is some dialogue in this movie that's pretty funny as well. Caine's character is a little compelling as he knows that he has to be shut down after the mission is over. In other words, this movie is stupidly hilarious for the first half, but decent for the second.

FINAL GRADE: 2 stars out of 5. Turn off your brain and enjoy. 

In retrospect, this movie probably does have the best opening ever.

Saturday, January 22, 2011
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Dead Space 2: First Impressions

Posted by Natasha Bennett




Hi guys!

I took a bit of a break from my normal reviews to play the demo of Dead Space 2. To summerize my previous reviews so far, I really didn't like the first game, but I did love the Wii game Dead Space Extraction, which is easily on my top ten list of best horror video games. So how does the demo fare? Well, I jotted down my thoughts below:

The Good: Unlike other video games which like to pretend that their expansion packs don’t exist (ahem, F.E.A.R) Dead Space 2 does actually bring up Dead Space Extraction in their intro. Hopefully we can find out what happened to the main characters in that one. 

From the control side, Dead Space 2 has gotten a visual uplift and it looks fantastic. Being on a planet rather than a spaceship, the locations are more artistic and the enemies seem more challenging as well. The controls also seem a little more fluid than the first game and the zero-G is far more fun. Also Isaac Clarke has a voice now. Hopefully a personality will follow, although from what I've seen from the trailer, I'm kind of worried he'll be a little whiny.

The bad: The demo crashed on the first try. Hopefully that won’t be a taste of things to come. And what was up with having me to register an account first before playing a demo? Gah, now I have more spam.

Unfortunately, that annoying music which follows a monster is also back. Yes, I get there’s a monster behind me. You don’t have to use the shrieking violins every time I see one. I’m also a little concerned that the gameplay will overshadow the more subtle parts of Isaac’s madness, but we’ll see.

The ugly: The suits. Ugh,  I hate the Dead Space suits. Every time Isaac Clarke enters the upgrade area I keep expecting the Iron Man music to start playing. And what is that part below his neck supposed to do?

So that's my first impressions. I plan to buy the game when it comes out next week, and of course I'll do a full review of the game.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011
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Announcement Time!

Posted by Natasha Bennett

Hi guys!

I have delcared that February is going to be...(drumroll please) 'Writer's Month' on my blog!



What does this mean? This means that next month other writers will be posting blogs here on random days! They can promo their book, talk about writing tips, or even talk about what they had for lunch for half a page. Please note that this includes writers from all genres, not just sci-fi and horror!

If any writer out there is interested, please e-mail me at warofthesoulites@gmail.com, and I'll reserve a spot for you!

Cheers,
Natasha

Saturday, January 15, 2011
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Game Review: Dead to Rights Retribution

Posted by Natasha Bennett



I'm taking a short break from Asylum Films for a moment to talk about things that are not of such amazing high quality (insert sarcasm here). Today I am reviewing Dead to Rights Retribution, and in my usual tradition, I am reviewing a series completely out of order. Seriously, I don't know why I do that. 

This is the plot (sort of): While battling a band of criminals, a Grant City cop named Jack Slate loses his father in a random shoot-out. Enraged, Jack goes rogue and exposes a plot to take over Grant City. And trust me, I am keeping the summary as vague as possible, because if I really explained this jumbled mess this blog would be twice as long.

 
Dead to Rights Retribution has plenty of problems, starting with the characters. Jack doesn’t have much of a personality other than being an angry cop who lost his dad in a random shooting. And he’s a mass murderer who doesn’t actually arrest anyone.I am being completely serious when I say that there are scenes in this game where a criminal is begging Jack for mercy, who, in response, shoots the guy's kneecaps off. Which brings me to the second problem with this game-at what point did the cops decide to do away with the whole ‘arresting part of the job and decide to murder unarmed people instead? At first I thought this was a problem with Jack alone, but the entire police force seems to support his brutally murderous ways.

Another problem is the number of plotholes. There is no clear reason why Jack decides to go rogue after his dad is shot. Villains are interchangeable and their motivations and plans usually don’t make much sense.  One of the more laughable plot holes is that towards the game Jack decides to try the whole ‘arresting’ thing for the first time, a point that rings hollow when Jack decides to use the criminal as a human shield for two levels straight.



The gameplay is just ‘okay’. There’s a good combination of gun fights and melee attacks, but it also suffers from a few annoyances. No one seems to know how to hold a gun properly and can be very easily disarmed. And unfortunately, Jack falls into this category as well and loses his gun so many times it soon becomes irritating. Plus, Jack is really snooty as to where he can or cannot take cover (and gets shot either way). On the other hand, the level design for this game is better than average and reminds me somewhat of Condemned, a game I really love. There is also one other thing about this game, one incredibly awesome part that makes me want to play it again and again. In one word, that is Shadow.



Shadow is Jack’s dog, and he is the best NPC I’ve ever had. This isn’t an NPc that hangs around in the background-Shadow can instantly kill several opponents, usually in cringe-worthy scenes that are actually worse than Jack’s. This isn't a playful pooch-it can easily tear off a limb from a criminal (usually a very personal one if that criminal is a guy).

Why are these two part of the police force again?

FINAL GRADE: 3 Stars out of 5. The gameplay is enjoyable but the plot kills any connection with anything.  

Stay tuned for an announcement shortly. 

Tuesday, January 11, 2011
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Movie Review: Marked

Posted by Natasha Bennett

Well...dangit, I was hoping to have one more bad movie on this box set to review, but then Asylum Studios decides to croak out something good for once.  Don’t get me wrong-this is not a particularly ‘good’ movie, one that I would recommend watching in theatres. A good movie for Asylum Studios means an average one in the real world...or a good movie that has been ripped off exceptionally well.  Even stranger, Marked was produced by the same company which also produced Passed the Door of Darkness, and even has some of the same actors. You would think the dialogue is atrocious and I should hate this movie...but I don’t.





The plot is thus-a young woman named Diella survives a rapist attack and her assailant is killed. Years later, Diella is a paranormal investigator who joined the field because she always feels the ghost of her attacker nearby. As it turns out, he somehow marked her and is trying to possess her body, creating an act of ‘pure evil unleashed’ in the process.

As I said, this is an average movie. There are some minor plotholes, and some characters who just badly need to die before they even made it to the concept stage.  How this movie works, however, is the relationship the two main characters, Diella and her brother Mitch. Mitch doesn’t believe in the paranormal, but he feels guilty because he wasn’t around to help Diella during her attack years ago. She, on the other hand, believes her brother is a chronic alcoholic and tends to disregard his help, even when it’s perfectly logical.



However, this movie has a few flaws, primarily subplots that go nowhere. Somehow an evil cult sprang out of this movie. Why? Because they think it would be cool to see Diella possessed I guess. There’s another subplot with one of the investigators becoming a cynic, and it doesn’t pay off in any way. Plus the movie has a weird fascination of inserting grainy effects during spooky scenes, which look overall jarring. The ending, however, is pretty interesting. 

FINAL GRADE: 2 out of 5. Average, but it’s more than what I usually expect from Asylum Studios.

And that concludes my four movie package. I will never have to review another movie from Asylum Studios again. Whew, what a nightmare! Hm...what’s this unopened box near the Christmas tree? Another present? That’s so swe-AAAAHHHHHHH!

Saturday, January 1, 2011
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