Gears of War 3 impressions

    This game is awesome!

    As of now, I've only finished the first two chapters in the game so I can't really call this a review. Heck, with all my upcoming school work, I might not finish the rest of the game for a while. I also have yet to try the new horde mode and beast mode. From what I've played so far though, it's an improvement on Gears of War 2 in almost every way. The scale of the action is bigger yet the story feels deeper and more personal. For the sake of this post, I'll assume you know enough about the Gears of War franchise, if you don't - read more here.

    All the new weapons that I've tried are a blast to use, including the beta weapons (retro lancer, sawed-off shotgun and the one shot,) and a giant meat cleaver. Yes, you can use the meat cleaver that some of the larger locusts wielded in Gears of War 2. While it's hard to get close enough to use it on the enemy, succeeding in chopping the locusts to bits is satisfying.

    The game takes place two years after Gears of War 2, which ended in the sinking of humanity's last remaining stronghold. Since then, both the humans and the locusts have become stranded. The real enemy this time round is the lambent, although so far I've fought more locusts than lambent. The lambent explode whenever they're killed, and the bigger they are, the bigger the explosions. The lambent also have further mutations, making every lambent type different to fight against. Even without the lambent though, the game introduces several new monsters to the locusts arsenal.

    Long story short, if you liked either of the other Gears games, get this whenever you can. From where I am in the game, it looks to be the best of the trilogy.

The War Hero

I haven't had much time to work on a review this week, so here's a poem I wrote for my Creative Writing courses. Hope you enjoy.

I was a war hero once,

I fought many battles.

I survived ambushes,

And took many lives.

The enemy feared me,

They fled for their lives,

They cowered behind cover,

Only to delay their fall.

My allies loved him,

My leaders respected him,

Yet I didn’t care,

I just wanted to win.

My objective was clear,

“Take out their leader”,

I was to go in alone,

One shot to finish the war.

I jumped from the plain,

Into enemy territory,

Landed perfectly,

And prepared my weapons.

I scanned the area,

No patrol units around,

I headed toward their camp,

Where my target was.

Finally a patrol jeep,

Seven soldiers in the back,

I hid in the bushes,

As they approached my trap.

I charged the patrol

Shooting to and fro,

Crushing the enemy

And very easily so.

I leapt forward,

Guns in each hand,

Firing away,

My enemies slain.

I took the jeep,

Used it for my own,

Drove closer to the camp,

And stopped on a hill above.

I moved to their camp

Their general in sight,

But before I could fire,

I was attacked from behind.

The enemy surrounded me,

But I didn't surrender,

I basted my way through,

And fled to the hills.

The enemy pursued,

I waited for them.

When they reached my sight,

I mowed them all down.

I collected their ammo,

Having used all my own,

Reloaded my weapons,

And moved back to the camp.

The path was easier now,

Fewer enemies this time,

But before I reached the general,

I received a shot from behind.

I turned around startled,

And there they were,

The enemy’s Special Forces,

Who shot me down.

I shouted in anger,

Threw up my arms,

Turned off the PlayStation,

“This mission’s too hard!

“I’ve tried that mission,

Seventeen times,

I just can’t do it.”

And then downed some beer.

I was a war hero once,

Within my favourite game.

It got too hard in the end,

I still haven’t won.

X-Men The Age of Apocalypse

    This X-men crossover is fricken brilliant. It’s dark, intense and it’s probably the greatest crossover Marvel Comics has ever produced.

    Every now and then, Marvel will have an alternate universe story. For example, this past spring there was an Age of X crossover in an alternate timeline where mutant kind was fighting a losing war against the human race. In 2005, there was the House of M – a company-wide event that depowered the vast majority of mutants in the main Marvel universe.  These alternate universes offer glimpses at how differently every major character turned out. But I’m not talking about House of M or Age of X today. Heck, I haven’t even read Age of X. I’m going to talk about the Age of Apocalypse.

School again

    I start my second year of school tomorrow, so again my blog updates are going to slow down for a while.

    In addition to that though, I'm not as much into movies and games as I was when I started this blog. I go through cycles of interests. For a year or two, I'll be into one thing, than I'll switch to another. When I started this blog, I was more into games than anything else. Before that, I was into movies. Before that, Music. Right now, I'm into comics more than anything else. Sure, I still enjoy the other three, but lately reviewing bad movies has felt more like a chore than the fun I had before. Heck, I've barely been playing any video games for a while...besides games about Marvel Comics characters and Batman.

    I'll still write reviews for bad movies, but expect them to be less frequent for now. They might be shorter too. On the other hand, whenever I see a movie in theaters within it's first two weeks of release, I'll give a quick review of that too. I might try reviewing a few comic story arcs here and there as well. As for video games, well...I might not even play enough games to have another list like this.

    I still plan on updating this blog, but it might be going through a few changes over the next month or so.

Movie Review - The other Troll 3

    Wait; there are two Troll 3's? By the same director released 3 years apart? How is that fricken possible?

    Before I get into the movie itself, I have to talk about the title situation. Lots of low-budget cash-in shock movies have alternate titles. My personal guess is that the movie makers often changed titles to avoid word-of-mouth. I've reviewed a movie with alternate titles before - namely the first Troll 3. That movie had other titles such as Contamination.7, Creepers, The Crawlers, and Troll 3: Contamination Point 7. My copy is called The Crawlers.

    With this Troll 3 however, the title situation is a little out of control. It's also known as Ator 4. Yes, this is a sequel to two different franchises. What is Ator you might ask? The first two movies were cash-ins to the Conan movies in the 80's. I might touch on them in the future, but for now I'll just focus on Ator 4...or is it 3? Yeah, Troll 3 is simultaneously known as Ator 3 and Ator 4. How confusing can it get?

    The series’ creator, Joe D'Amato, likes to ignore Ator 3: The Iron Warrior, which was created by a different director. He then Created Ator 4 and called it Ator 3 in some regions. So to sum that up, the king of the cash-in accused Iron Warrior of being a cash-in. Wrap your head around that one.

    Other titles for Ator 4/Troll 3/Ator 3 include: The Hobgoblin, Quest for the Mighty Sword, Ator 4: The Hobgoblin, Ator 3: The Hobgoblin, and even Ator I'Invinsible - the same title as the original. Yeah, apparently this is also a re-make of the original. I've touched this series many times before. Heck, I even reviewed the Blu Ray for Troll 2. It's about time I touched on this one.

    This intro has gone on long enough; let’s see whether the title or the movie is the bigger mess.