When I first herd they were making a fourth Pirates film I figured thought: "Ok, they are trying to rake in some more cash by making anther installment to a popular series of films. Its probably going to be bad but I guess I'll go watch this ship sink anyway." After seeing the film though I was quite surprised at how well it turned out. Though it is not nearly as strong as The Curse Of The Black Pearl I still enjoyed "Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides".
Like the the other Pirates films it has a lot of action sequences though sadly the humor did not come out as well as it had in the previous films. The weakest point of On Stranger Tides was the new additions to the cast, The majority of the new characters did not see to be as developed as the ones from the previous films.
On the positive side, Barbossa still plays a sort of rival to Jack as he did in At World's End. I still feel that out of the three main pirate villains(Barbossa, Davy Jones,and Blackbeard) Barbossa was the best villain of the series, so I'm glad they kept him around.
So when it comes to deciding weather or not to see this in theaters, I would say if your a big fan of the series and have seen the rest it theater then why break tradition. However if you didn't care the for the others so much then you may want to wait until its out on rental.
(I give "Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" a 4 out of 5)
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Monday, March 7, 2011
"LittleBigPlanet 2" PS3 Video Game Review
In all honesty, I really don't have all that much to say about "LittleBigPlanet 2"
Its a flexible platforming game that allows users to create there own levels. The level creator is simple and the average person should have no trouble making a good level. (What you put into it is what you will get out of it so the more work the better it will turn out.)
The levels users make can then be uploaded online so the entire LittleBigPlanet community can play them. This is really what makes this game worth buying. I didn't care for the story mode, so I wouldn't recommended it to someone who cant play online. But for anyone that play's regularly online this is a game I highly recommend.
Its a flexible platforming game that allows users to create there own levels. The level creator is simple and the average person should have no trouble making a good level. (What you put into it is what you will get out of it so the more work the better it will turn out.)
The levels users make can then be uploaded online so the entire LittleBigPlanet community can play them. This is really what makes this game worth buying. I didn't care for the story mode, so I wouldn't recommended it to someone who cant play online. But for anyone that play's regularly online this is a game I highly recommend.
(I give "LittleBigPlanet 2" a 5 out of 5 for the online play and amazing levels that some of the users have made.)
"Disney Epic Mickey" Wii Video Game Review
"Disney Epic Mickey" is an action adventure game for the Nintendo Wii.
When I first herd of the game I had initially dismissed it as "Epic" has become a fad word that people overuse so much, it has lost its meaning. (Epic today = Average) But as more information about the game became available it started to like they were really trying to make this this a spectacular game. But it turned out that this game matches the modern definition perfectly. Disney Epic Mickey is a pretty average action adventure game, its nothing special but still fun to play.
My biggest complaint about the game is the lack of unique characters. Instead of having unique forgotten characters inhabiting the towns, there is the same set of generic characters. This includes a dog that resembles Goofy, a cow that resembles Clarabelle Cow, and a horse that resembles Horace Horsecoller. These characters were supposed to represent the variants of the the same character but from different cartoons, yet all of them have new names for the game.(None of the characters resembling Goofy are named Dippy Dawg or George Geef which are other names Goofy was known as, and would have been appropriate to use since these names are no longer used for the character.) By using these generic designs they missed out on a great opportunity to show a lot of forgotten/rejected characters which was sapposed to be the point of the game.
My second biggest complaint (and this goes for a lot of Wii games) is that the game is not compatible with the Classic Controller Pro. I think the Classic Controller Pro is one of the nicest controllers that Nintendo has made yet very few games actually use it.
Overall the game is alright for what it is. If you like the Super Mario adventure games that Nintendo has released for the GameCube and Wii like "Super Mario Sunshine" then you will probably have fun playing this game. Also you will probably get more out of "Disney Epic Mickey" if your familiar with a lot of the old Disney works, since there are platformer segments that are modeled after the old Mickey Mouse cartoons, as well as recognizable material incorporated into the design of the game.
So "Disney Epic Mickey" is a fun game but there is a lot that could have been done to improve on it. So you may want to rent this one before purchasing it.
Things I liked:
1. Game play was simple but entertaining.
2. It reintroduces Oswald The Lucky Rabbit.
3. Mickey's ears rotate on his head the way they do in the cartoons.
Things I disliked:.
1. Lacks a variety of unique characters.
2. Not compatible with the Classic Controller Pro.
3. No voice acting. (Typical for Nintendo.)
4. Errors with the camera controls.
5.You must replay the entire game multiple times if you wish to get every pin (Pin = Bonus item collected in game.)
When I first herd of the game I had initially dismissed it as "Epic" has become a fad word that people overuse so much, it has lost its meaning. (Epic today = Average) But as more information about the game became available it started to like they were really trying to make this this a spectacular game. But it turned out that this game matches the modern definition perfectly. Disney Epic Mickey is a pretty average action adventure game, its nothing special but still fun to play.
My biggest complaint about the game is the lack of unique characters. Instead of having unique forgotten characters inhabiting the towns, there is the same set of generic characters. This includes a dog that resembles Goofy, a cow that resembles Clarabelle Cow, and a horse that resembles Horace Horsecoller. These characters were supposed to represent the variants of the the same character but from different cartoons, yet all of them have new names for the game.(None of the characters resembling Goofy are named Dippy Dawg or George Geef which are other names Goofy was known as, and would have been appropriate to use since these names are no longer used for the character.) By using these generic designs they missed out on a great opportunity to show a lot of forgotten/rejected characters which was sapposed to be the point of the game.
My second biggest complaint (and this goes for a lot of Wii games) is that the game is not compatible with the Classic Controller Pro. I think the Classic Controller Pro is one of the nicest controllers that Nintendo has made yet very few games actually use it.
Overall the game is alright for what it is. If you like the Super Mario adventure games that Nintendo has released for the GameCube and Wii like "Super Mario Sunshine" then you will probably have fun playing this game. Also you will probably get more out of "Disney Epic Mickey" if your familiar with a lot of the old Disney works, since there are platformer segments that are modeled after the old Mickey Mouse cartoons, as well as recognizable material incorporated into the design of the game.
So "Disney Epic Mickey" is a fun game but there is a lot that could have been done to improve on it. So you may want to rent this one before purchasing it.
Things I liked:
1. Game play was simple but entertaining.
2. It reintroduces Oswald The Lucky Rabbit.
3. Mickey's ears rotate on his head the way they do in the cartoons.
Things I disliked:.
1. Lacks a variety of unique characters.
2. Not compatible with the Classic Controller Pro.
3. No voice acting. (Typical for Nintendo.)
4. Errors with the camera controls.
5.You must replay the entire game multiple times if you wish to get every pin (Pin = Bonus item collected in game.)
(I give "Disney Epic Mickey" a 3.5 out of 5)
I gave it the extra .5 points because I would still recommend this game even though I think there was a lot that could have been done to improve it.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
"Rango"(2011) Movie Review
When I first saw the trailer for "Rango" I was leery about it but as more clips began to arise on the internet I began looking forward to seeing it. By the time it came out I was actually kind of excited and now after seeing it I was rather disappointed. The plot just kind of goes along with very little depth, and the characters had such flat personalities to the point that I didn't care what happened to them. It had a few good moments and some interesting imagery at times but on the whole I could not get into it. It also didn't help that "Rango" had bad attempts at crude humor scattered throughout the movie, which I found rather distasteful.
The one highlight of the movie for me was the character stylization and animation. The characters were very unique and detailed beautifully which is something that more CGI animation companies should utilize. CGI gives the opportunity to do way more detailing then was ever possible in traditional animation, so it bothers me that companies like Dreamworks and Pixar keep pushing the cartoonified simplistic look in their animated films. Another positive for Rango was that they used the actor's for reference instead of motion capture which gave the characters a better feeling of life. So I commend Industrial Light & Magic for a job well done on the work they put into "Rango".
On the negative side though was the character designs themselves. I was unable to identify what a lot of the character were supposed to be! I watch a lot of nature films so when I go to see a film were the characters are meant to look like desert animals I want to be able to tell what they are. (Why bother making them animals at all if they don't look or act like the animal they represent.) But I guess I can let that go since the character were very unique.
So basically I think the movie is worth seeing at least once for the animation and stylization. So if you have a descent TV at home you may want to wait until "Rango" is out for rent.
(I give "Rango" a 2.7 out of 5)
*Note: I had trouble giving a score to "Rango" as it wasn't completely bad, but I did not enjoy the movie and will probably never watch it again. Since a 3 usually means I may watch it again, I gave "Rango a 2.7 because I wont watch it again but I didn't feel it was bad enough to deserve a 2.
The one highlight of the movie for me was the character stylization and animation. The characters were very unique and detailed beautifully which is something that more CGI animation companies should utilize. CGI gives the opportunity to do way more detailing then was ever possible in traditional animation, so it bothers me that companies like Dreamworks and Pixar keep pushing the cartoonified simplistic look in their animated films. Another positive for Rango was that they used the actor's for reference instead of motion capture which gave the characters a better feeling of life. So I commend Industrial Light & Magic for a job well done on the work they put into "Rango".
On the negative side though was the character designs themselves. I was unable to identify what a lot of the character were supposed to be! I watch a lot of nature films so when I go to see a film were the characters are meant to look like desert animals I want to be able to tell what they are. (Why bother making them animals at all if they don't look or act like the animal they represent.) But I guess I can let that go since the character were very unique.
So basically I think the movie is worth seeing at least once for the animation and stylization. So if you have a descent TV at home you may want to wait until "Rango" is out for rent.
(I give "Rango" a 2.7 out of 5)
*Note: I had trouble giving a score to "Rango" as it wasn't completely bad, but I did not enjoy the movie and will probably never watch it again. Since a 3 usually means I may watch it again, I gave "Rango a 2.7 because I wont watch it again but I didn't feel it was bad enough to deserve a 2.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Introduction
Hello and thank you for checking out my blog,
My YouTube channel "BenSketchingVideos" has gained over 40 subscribers since I opened it back in December, so I thought it would be a good idea to start a blog to go along with it. In this blog I plan to go into more detail on the subjects of my videos, as well as mention things that I would like to talk about but don't think it is necessary to create an entire video over. In doing so I think my follower's will be able to get much more out of this then from my YouTube channel alone, and in turn provide better feedback to help both my YouTube channel and Blog.
So with great excitement I make my first entry to the BenSketchingBlog,
-Ben
My YouTube channel "BenSketchingVideos" has gained over 40 subscribers since I opened it back in December, so I thought it would be a good idea to start a blog to go along with it. In this blog I plan to go into more detail on the subjects of my videos, as well as mention things that I would like to talk about but don't think it is necessary to create an entire video over. In doing so I think my follower's will be able to get much more out of this then from my YouTube channel alone, and in turn provide better feedback to help both my YouTube channel and Blog.
So with great excitement I make my first entry to the BenSketchingBlog,
-Ben
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