the-lynchpin

ASYLUM

2010-11-16T18:52:00.005-07:00

I'm a big fan of Disturbed. Or i should say, I'm a big fan of Disturbed's first two albums. I didn't particularly enjoy the political rantings of "10,000 fists" but i thought they were heading back in the right direction with their "indestructible" album. Then came their latest effort, Asylum.

Before buying the album i had heard the single, "another way to die" on the radio. My first thought was, this sounds like a medley of all the songs they have done in the past. I figured they must have picked this song because it was the most mainstream out of the bunch, so I went out and bought it anyway... mistake.

As it turns out it wasn't just that one song. All the songs on the album sound exactly the same, or at least follow the same formula. I will say however, that it is a formula that is easy to listen to and has made them successful in the past. The beats are catchy enough and as always Dan Donegan works miracles on the guitar. The real crime here is the writing, the lyrics are just god awful. The album sounds like it was written by a tribute band composed of 13 year olds who thought it would be clever to say the same thing over and over.

As I said, I like disturbed and still love what they have accomplished in most of their previous albums, but Asylum just wasn't doing it for me. I look forward to their next album though and i would hope they put more time and effort into it. 5/10

CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS

2010-11-14T11:14:00.011-07:00

I was hesitant to run out and buy the newest game in the Call of Duty franchise: Black Ops. I wanted to wait for a week or two and see what people had to say about it first. I started reading reviews on different websites and it seemed to be getting (for the most part) positive feedback. Which came as a suprise to me given Treyarch's sub-par track record.

I wasn't a fan of World at War. Some of it had to do with production aspects but i think most of its failures were due to the games WWII era theme, which in my opinion is a dead horse that has been beat time and time again. Releasing after Infinity Ward's Modern Warfare (1) it just didn't seem like the best move. Part of what made MW1 so great (and revolutionary at the time) was the ability to customize your weapons with a variety of optics, ballistics, and camouflage that would suite the players liking and style of game play. Taking the genre back to WWII eliminated that possibility in order to stay true to that time period.

Black Ops is no Modern Warfare either, it takes place during a range of time periods, including WWII and the Vietnam War, which you have access to during a series of flashbacks. However, Treyarch does a surprisingly good job integrating modern technology in a believable fashion this time around.

The Cold War is an interesting period. Its a time of paranoia, when the communist threat, real or imagined, was everywhere including within your own ranks. It was a time for developing secret technology, spying, and betraying one another. I'm no military historian but I like to think of it this way: even if the technology made available to you in the game is a little ahead of its time, i think of it as being secret technology, maybe even in experimental stages, which is only used by special forces teams with the highest of security clearances.

The campaign story is well thought out and fun to play. Because it covers such a wide time period you have a wider variety of weapons at your fingertips. I have also found that ammo is not hard to come by so once i find a gun i like i can use it as long as i want and shoot as much as i want. the only complaint i have about the campaign is that it is so story driven i feel like i have to stop every 15 minutes for a short video clip or something.

Treyarch also brought back Nazi Zombies for this game with 3 unlockable maps. Its a game mode that involves you and three other players defending yourselves from wave after wave of zombies. as you kill zombies you earn money and can buy new weapons or open locked doors that grant you access to different parts of the map. Each wave gets worse as you play and you go until everyone on the team is dead. Its a fun mode if your just looking to hang out and you want something to shoot while your talking to your friends. Of course if your serious about it and your looking to set some records you will need a good team you can communicate with well.

There is also a bonus "Zombie Ops" arcade game that can be unlocked from the main menu screen, and can be played with 1 or multiple players. I have to say i really love this simple little game they came up with. Its another survival style game like Nazi Zombies but you pick up gems and powered up weapons (that give you a temporary boost) along the way to decimate the undead masses and earn the highest score. Its awesome.

I would say that the multiplayer i have the biggest problem with, but only in the sense that its the same old bullshit we are used to seeing from MW1 and MW2. The network sucks which means the lag is bad. if you like popping around a corner and getting shot in the face before you even see what happened, then this is the multiplayer experience for you. I think they upped the difficulty too. The weapons have a lot heavier recoil and the optics are small with bulky edges making them hard to see through. Also you are not able to throw grenades very far.

They also changed how you get new weapons coming up with a new money system. As you complete challenges and rank up you earn money and unlock certain weapons. but you then have to go buy that weapon before you are able to use it. it is the same with various attachments, perks, and camouflage, all coming at a price so you must choose which ones will help you the most. this addition i dont really mind that much. its a different approach and money doesnt seem all that hard to come buy.

Overall i liked the game. i didn't have high expectations going into it, but in the end i came out pleasantly surprised. I give it a 8/10

THE WALKING DEAD

2010-11-05T18:54:00.004-06:00

On October 31st AMC aired the Premiere of The Walking Dead, A new mini series based off the comic book created by Robert Kirkman. It follows a small group of survivors trying to make it day to day in post Apocalyptic America, or maybe i should say post Zombie Apocalyptic America.

Now i must be upfront and say that ive never read any of the comic books before so i cannot and will not speculate as to which tells the better of the two stories. Nor do i care.

Even if the movie had nothing in common with the books save the title only, I still know that whatever it was i saw on TV Halloween night was nothing short of a cinematic masterpiece. That being said, it is of course only my opinion. I love zombies, and i really love watching them die. So in that regard my observations may be a little bias. Though in my defense a record breaking 8.1 million tunned into the premier that night making it the most watched premier of the year, and from what Ive seen, feedback has been good for the most part as well.

What makes The Walking Dead different and what i think so captivating is that it really focuses on the characters and how they are responding to the situation around them. I think it adds a creepy sort of realism to the film you dont often see anymore. As i think it goes with any good story, the more connected you are to the charicters the more thier lives matter and all of the sudden it becomes important whether or not they live or die. Making the moments they are in danger that much more intense.

The story sort of pushes the mindless blood bath that is the horror genre into the background a little bit. Its a breath of fresh air when today's Hollywood horror is mass produced in a factory by a bunch of kids with down syndrome. (i love down syndrome kids). Just don't get me wrong, the action and the blood is there and it doesn't disappoint.

I think the cast is strong the filming is well done, not to mention the zombies look soooo awesome. I would have expected a little more half-assed low budget effort from a station i just heard of 2 weeks ago, but what can i say, they nailed it. mix all that with a great story and i think we have something all horror fans can be excited about. I know i cant wait until next Sunday.

HALLOWEEN

2010-11-04T21:37:00.004-06:00

Horror movies are Awesome but they are even better during Halloween. You have an opportunity to catch all kinds of scary movies on TV you've never seen before. This year believe it or not i watched the original Halloween Movie all the way through for the first time. What made it even more interesting to me was learning a little bit more about the movie afterward on the History Channel.

This movie really was the first of its kind. Halloween (the holiday) up until this point in history had been primarily focused on keeping kids out of trouble. Halloween themes, including movies and costumes were geared toward children. It wasn't until the 1960's when grown ups started to celebrate Halloween in their own way. When John Carpenter created Halloween in 1978 it was the first movie, meant for an adult audience, to use the holiday as a backdrop.

On an interesting note, in an interview with John Carpenter he said that the Michael Myers mask was a last minute edition to the movie so they picked up the first mask they could find which happened to be a horrible rendition of Captain Kirk from StarTrek.

THE FORCE UNLEASHED 2

2010-11-04T20:21:00.004-06:00

Being a huge StarWars fan i was excited when i got home with my copy of The Force Unleashed II. Starkiller is a major bad-ass and i cant get over it. I have the Ultimate Sith Edition of the first game on my Playstation 3 and i think i have played through it atleast 10 times.

Besides intense game play and captivating environments the first game nailed a solid story line which takes place between episode III and IV. You play as Darth Vaders secret apprentice (Starkiller) who begins the game as a Sith Assassin, hunting Jedi across the galaxy, though eventually betrayed by Vader, Starkiller ends up playing a key role in the establishment of the rebellion against the Empire. Starkiller is killed by the emperor at the end of the game giving his life to save others.

Before he died starkiller fell for a chick named Juno Eclipse, pilot of his ship the Rouge Shadow. In Part II, Starkiller awakes to find himself on the rainy planet of Kamino only to learn that he is a clone created by Darth Vader in an attempt to create the ultimate Sith warrior. Though there is one problem, the clones are haunted by the memories of their dead predecessor, particularly the memory of Juno Eclipse.

To sum up the entire plot, Starkiller is a tormented angry young man obsessed with finding his lost love... and thats it.

Dispite my disappointment with the story (or lack there-of) i was pleasantly suprised at the amount of detail they added to the game play. the environments were incredible and the dual lightsaber moves were smooth and well executed. The severed limbs and heads flying around when you light into somebody was a bonus too. There could have been a better variety of enemies but some effort was made to add a level of strategy as some enemies could only be killed by force attacks and others with saber attacks.

They also added force fury to the game allowing you to build force energy as you play and then let it all go at a time of your choosing making your attacks massive and severely damaging, though this ability could only be used a few times throughout the game as it takes a while to charge. Even though it rarely has a place in the game the results are entertaining to say the least.

Over all i enjoyed the game a lot though i would hesitate to recommend it to someone looking to buy it brand new. Due to its short campaign and lack of multiplayer your only looking at 6-7 hours of gameplay. they also included a couple single player challenges outside the campaign that might add 1 -2 hours to your time but i would wait to pick it up used for 35 bucks. I give it a 7.5/10