REVIEW: DAWN OF WAR II

I was looking forward since 2008 for the Dawn of War II. I can’t say I’m disappointed, but Relic will have lot of work to make this DoW2 as remarkable as where the previous ones.


- GRAPHICS: 9.0
(The graphics are top, but like the other DoW, the effects cause my – and probably more people’s - eyes to get red after some time playing. Relic should be aware of that when making its next release)

- SOUND: 9.0
(very adequate for the game)

- GAMEPLAY: 9.0
(the unit’s upgrades are good, but we, DoW fans, wanted more squads to control. Playing with an army of only 4 squads is frustrating)

- MULTIPLAYER: 8.0
(the cooperative campaign is great, but the regular skirmish multiplayer is too much simplified. We all miss the DoW gameplay in skirmish. And why Windows Live + Steam?)

- INNOVATION: 8.0
(DoW + Company of Heroes resulted in a downgrade DoW)

- EXTENSIBILITY: ?
(will Relic release decent mod tools? Community content support? We don’t know yet. If not, DoW2 will dye pretty soon)

- REPLAY FACTOR: 7.0
(as the campaign is much more linear than in Dark Crusade or Soulstorm, this game is unlikely to be played much after completed)

- OVERALL: 8.5

Duel of titans

Pimp your squad!

Fast action in a destructible environment

Scary cut scenes

- CONCLUSION:
DoW2 it’s a good but yet limited game, which carries the burden of other great titles. Being very different from the previous DoW series, it’s better to don’t uninstall your Dark Crusade. Let’s just hope the expansions will not only add the awaited new factions, but also new game features and deepness.

COMICS IN FILMS

Speaking about comics’ super heroes adaptations, I made a list of the movies from 2000 until now, classified in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

The Good

1- Watchmen
2- The Dark Night
3- Iron Man
4- Batman Begins
5- X-Men 3
6- X-Men 2
7- X-Men
8- Hellboy 2
9- Spiderman 2
10- Spiderman 3
11- Spiderman

The Bad

1- Constantine
2- Hulk
3- The Incredible Hulk
4- Hellboy
5- V for Vendetta
6- Ultraviolet
7- The Punisher
8- Superman – Returns
9- The League of Extraordinary Gentleman
12- Fantastic Four
13- Fantastic Four 2
14- Wanted

The Ugly

1- Cat Woman
2- Electra
3- Daredevil
4- Ghost Rider

“The Good” movies are faithful or improved versions of the comics that really work as a film.
Most in “The Bad” list are not always that awful as movies, but they use to be so different in concept from the comics that I couldn´t like them.
And “The Ugly”… well, they just suck hard in all ways.

Funny as hell

I’m a jerk, but I’m the Iron Man

REVIEW: WATCHMEN – THE MOVIE

This one will be fast: I loved the movie and I endorse every change made by the film’s authors.




Best scenes:

» The amazing opening, with an amazing song, telling the (alternative) story of the US from the thirties to the eighties.
» Most of the Rorschach citations, like:
“- Is this BEAN juice?
- HUMAN bean juice...”
» Prison scene. “I'm not locked in here with you. You're locked in here with me!”
» The ending – greatest director “liberty” and works even better than the gigantic psyche octopus from the comics.

Conclusion:

» Sure it was hard to adapt these comics to the silver screen, but the director chooses the only acceptable way: to be as faithful as possible. This is not a movie for everyone, though. As the graphic novel wasn´t.

Minutemen flashbacks

Only in real world the villains are more human than the heroes

Flawless locations

A darker America

REVIEW: WATCHMEN - THE COMICS

I just finished reading the Watchmen, for the third time. The first was just after its release, back in the eighties, the second some years ago. Each time I read it gets better.

No other comics have a so complex and intelligent plot, so deep and human characters, so many stories within the story and so much philosophic questioning. Watchmen could be called the “comics to end all comics”.

Now the comic series are in the spotlight because of the upcoming film. Even though the movie looks flawless so far, we old fans are waiting with a mix of apprehension and excitement. Snyder has done a pretty good job in 300. Let us hope he can capture the spirit of the Watchmen in the silver screen.

Meanwhile, I recommend the reader to follow the news about the adaptation of one of the side stories. Here is the trailer.

For those who don’t know what these “Tales of the Black Freighter” are, take a look here.

Ah, few people know, but there is a “Watchmen Motion Comic”. It’s a very true adaptation to the comics. More information here.

One of the best novels of XX century is a comic book

2008 PC GAMES REVIEW

These are the PC Games that got my attention in 2008.

Sins of a Solar Empire
» Score: 8,0
» The Good: very interesting and original solutions for the RTS genre; great co-op gameplay.
» The Bad: no campaign (no background or story to link the levels).

Command & Conquer 3: Kane’s Wrath
» Score: 7,5
» The Good: the Global Conquest mode, the different factions.
» The Bad: weak campaign; no multiplayer or setting flexibility for the Global Conquest mode.

Assassin’s Creed
» Score: 8,0
» The Good: interesting story; great freedom.
» The Bad: buggy; lack of more RPG elements.

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2
» Score: 9,0
» The Good: total multiplayer support; good campaign and game modes; challenging AI (but just in Terrorist Hunt); simplified gameplay; amazing arsenal; the Terrorist Hunt mode is great, especially on co-op.
» The Bad: too similar to Vegas 1; weapons should be better configured, based on their real properties; campaign too easy and with weak ending; lacks of more tactical factor from the old R6 games; poor mod support.

Dawn of War: Soulstorm
» Score: 7,5
» The Good: well balanced new races, flying units, better meta-map game.
» The Bad: lower quality (story and especially graphics), if you compare with Dark Crusade. And… Sisters of Battle?!

Mass Effect
» Score: 9,5
» The Good: amazing graphics, levels, story, combat system…
» The Bad: confusing inventory; low replay factor; and the unforgiving: no multiplayer!

Spore
» Score: 6,5
» The Good: the first 2 phases, although too simple, are very charming. The creature creation tool is very impressive.
» The Bad: disappointing. The Tribal and Civilization Phases are ridiculous (RTS for babies?). The Space Phase is deeper but very confusing and endless (boring). Instead of really improving the gameplay, there will be dozens of useless add-ons. Massive Single-Player? Come on!

Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization
» Score: 6,0
» The Good: it holds interest in the beginning.
» The Bad: much more limited than the other Civs. In terms of graphics and gameplay this game could be released 10 years ago and make no difference.

Guitar Hero Aerosmith
» Score: 5,0
» hmmm... well, the menu art is still very stylish and nice.
» The Bad: poor music selection (or it’s just the band?); no innovation in gameplay or new features (they even kept the same 3d art); few content… Would only fit as an expansion, not a full game. Totally dispensable if you have GH3.

Bully: Scholarship Edition
» Score: 7,0
» The Good: teenager’s life in hell: the first chapter is very cool.
» The Bad: some places in the map are terribly modeled; most of the mini-games are stupid; the game loses all the interest in the middle of the 2nd chapter.

King’s Bounty: The Legend
» Score: 6,5
» The Good: a beautiful clone of the Heroes of Might & Magic.
» The Bad: badly balanced: even when you win a battle you end up weaker than before.

World of Goo
» Score: 9,5
» The Good: surprising creative, addictive, clever and gorgeous. It proves you don’t need millions to make an amazing game.
» The Bad: we want more difficult levels!

Dead Space
» Score: 8,0
» The Good: the film-like atmosphere, the visual impact.
» The Bad: repetitive. At some point you start to get annoyed with the same enemies and places. As a horror third person game, it’s as not good and tense as the first Alone in the Dark (probably the best third person game I ever played).

Fallout 3
» Score: 9,0
» The Good: another amazing first person RPG from Bethesda, with a huge area to explore, beautiful graphics, great story, many interaction options and side quests, charming and clever design (“You are S.P.E.C.I.A.L”).
» The Bad: lack of enemy variety, low replay factor, badly balanced weapons, lack of multiplayer. Could work much better as a FPS (just by increasing the damage of the weapons).

Far Cry 2
» Score: 9,0
» The Good: great freedom, huge environment, nice in-game graphics and menu art, surprising AI, destructible environment, fun with fire!
» The Bad: limited multiplayer (what about a co-op?); at some point the game becomes very repetitive. You kill more people in Africa than a plague, which gets boring – the guard posts shouldn’t always refill with enemies. More unique quests would improve a lot the “campaign”.

Red Alert 3
» Score: 8,5
» The Good: high quality movies, campaign and design; naval combat; incredible support for co-op (including in campaign). And an astonishing vision: Gemma Atkinson.
» The Bad: too much fantasy; limited unit and tactical upgrades. Enough of this time traveling stuff. Generals is still the best C&C game.

Call of Duty: World at War
» Score: 8,0
» The Good: dark and gory; great multiplayer support, including co-op for the campaign.
» The Bad: your AI allies are useless and depend entirely on you to kill the enemies or to reach the checkpoints; the campaign is terribly linear; after 3 Call of Duties in WW2, the formula isn’t fresh anymore.

Left 4 Dead
» Score: 8,5
» The Good: the randomness; scary; well balanced weapons; fantastic multiplayer.
» The Bad: few levels; few weapons; the zombies should be more aggressive (sometimes they just wait for a bullet in their head); the difficulty increases (a little) too much in the ending of the levels.

The misunderstood Vegas 2

It tastes so GOOd!

Fallout 3: fantastic experience

Not evaluated (yet): Crysis Warhead; Brothers in Arms; Hell’s Highway; STALKER: Clear Sky; Prince of Persia; Grand Theft Auto IV.