InFAMOUS PS3 review

Infamous: PS3 review

The Presentation:

Game designer Sucker Punch is no newcomer when it comes to developing quality games.  On the playstation 2 it brought us the fantastic Sly Cooper series, and for it’s first outing on a next gen system it brings us the fantastic InFAMOUS.  You play as Cole, an average delivery man who, while out delievering a package, is in the center of an explosion that wipes out nearly all of empire city.  While those around you died, you wind up with super powers.

Now the fun begins.  As an electrically charged super hero, your mission is to find out why the explosion happened and how you got these powers.  The game has a very distinct graphic novel  feel, with all the cutscenes playing out as panels from a comic book. 

The meat and potatoes of any free-roam game is the missions.  The main campaign is short on its own, running a good ten or so hours, but the side missions increase that number drastically.  Add in looking for blast shards and you have a good 20+hour game.  Also of note, the side missions never get to repetitive, and neither do your powers.  As you progress you unlock new powers to use against the enemies on the games three distinct islands.  As you defeat enemies, help citizens and complete missions you earn XP.  The XP you earn is used to upgrade your powers and become stronger.

And that brings me to the karma system.  Throughout the game you have choices that allow you to be either good or bad.  Being Good gives you light blue electricity and it alters the way your tale unfolds.  Being bad gives you blood red lightning and changes the way the city reacts to you.

 

9/10

The Graphics:

 

InFamous looks incredible.  The city is expansive, the lightning effects are amazing and the draw distance is phenomenal.  Cole as a character is one of the best models I have seen.  His movements are smooth and the detail in him is excellent.  But a few graphical hiccups drop the grade down a bit.  Pop-in is not prevalent but it is there, and the in-game cut-scenes can look a bit odd.  Glitches occur as well.  I sometimes would find myself falling through the ground to my death.

9/10

The Sound:

Presented with a lossless 7.1 surround mix, Infamous is a treat for the ears.  Bass can get bombastic, and your rear channels will get a workout.  The voice acting is generally excellent with the only knock being some of the pedestrians.  Gun shots sound realistic, and your electric powers have quite the Umph.  And not to mention the amazing musical score for the game.

9.5/10

 

Gameplay:

 

The gameplay for InFAMOUS feels great.  It controls just how it should.  To fire a normal blast of lightning, Hold L1 then tap R1.  Each of your powers is mapped to a different button, and they are fast and simple to use.

9.5/10

Replay Value

For a game of its type, InFAMOUS has excellent re-playability.  There are two very different campaigns depending on how you play, and after the game is over, there are tons of things scattered around the city to find

8/10

Overall:

InFAMOUS is one heck of a game.  One that should not be missed.  It’s a surefire contender for game of the year.  Be sure to pick it up ASAP.

9/10

 

The Terminator: Blu-ray review

The Terminator: Blu-ray Review

 

 

The Movie itself:

 

The Terminator was James Cameron’s big break.  The film was shot on a shoe string six million dollar budget and came to earn way over four times more than that.  The film also gained a place in the pop culture of the world.  The line “I’ll be back” is known world wide as is the character of the Terminator.  But the original is much more than a popcorn film.  It’s also a statement about the ideals of society in the 1980’s and a grim look at technology in our future. 

 

The Terminator takes place in 1984 and follows Sarah Conner (Linda Hamilton) and Kyle Reese (Michael Behin) as they attempt to outsmart and defeat a mechanical warrior from the future (Arnold Schwarznegger).  Sarah Conner will one day harbor a child, named John, who will lead the resistance in the war against the machines.  Kyle Reese was sent back in time to protect Sarah form the T-800. 

 

The film is a personal favorite of mine.  It has great performances and directing, along with a fantastic story.  It goes to show what a low budget can do with one of the most creative action directors of all time at the helm.

 

5/5

 

Video Quality:

 

The movie has somewhat of a mixed bag for video quality.  Being filmed on such poor quality film, it will never look amazing, but it could certainly look better than how it does here.  There are scratches, dirt and many other things on the film print that could easily be cleaned up with a new restoration.  But it also has some scenes that have such good quality my jaw dropped.  It’s really an average transfer so that’s what the score will be.

 

3/5

 

 

The Audio Quality:

 

Presented in PCM uncompressed 5.1 audio, The Terminator is a revelation.  It has never sounded so robust before.  The speakers really come alive and the bass rumbles with low tones.  Audio is clear and directionality is great.  My only wish is that it had the original Mono track on the disk.

 

4/5

 

 

The goods- digging into the special features:

 

The Blu-ray features a retrospective documentary, an average EPK feature and deleted scenes.

 

All the features are presented in 480i video and are all worth a watch, but the BD is missing tons of features from the previously released DVD.

 

2/5

 

Overall:

 

The film is a classic and belongs on any movie collectors shelf.  The disk is notable with sub par video and good Audio.  The features leave me to assume a double dip will release, but not any time soon.  Pick it up.

 

4/5

Star Trek (2009): Theatrical Review

Star Trek Theatrical Review

 

 

Created in the 1960’s Star Trek is a massive phenomenon.  It spawned 4 spin off series, 10 feature films,  toys, novels and much more.  And in 2009 JJ Abrams has set out to bring Star Trek back with the 11^th feature film.

 

Star Trek takes place at the beginning of the series.  James T. Kirk (Played to perfection by Chris Pine) has entered Star Fleet Academy and with the help of Bones McCoy (Another excellent performance from Karl Urban) lands a spot on the USS enterprise on it’s maiden voyage to respond to a distress call. 

 

Star Trek succeeds in many areas.  The special effects are top notch and the sound design is truly amazing.  The performances are also top notch.  Each actor brings life into his or her character while respecting the original actors.  The story is good, but not the deep quality I’ve come to expect from Star Trek. 

 

In fact that’s really the only problem I have with the film.  It’s just more or less and action film.  But it’s a damn good action film and well worth watching.

 

8/10

-Review By Gamma