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A bloody mess in more ways than one.
Where do I start? The wooden acting? The Engrish lines? Poorly edited fighting and story scenes? The incredibly obvious CG blood and monsters? Or the stupifying ending that left half the audience speechless? It’s all of them, really. Continue Reading »
I’ve been watching a lot of movies lately (just yesterday I watched The International) and the latest one to get my attention is the upcoming premiere of LaMB, which will be broadcasted on Animax-Asia this March 24th. Animax has been hyping LaMB quite a bit as it’s the company’s first high definition animated film. Not only that, the script was prepared by one of the finalists of the Animax 2007 Pan-Asia Animation competition heralding from the Philippines while its production was done by Singaporean studio Peach Blossom Media. Earlier this evening, some media and invited guests got a sneak peek of the movie before it premieres across the region next week.
In general, I think the film was okay. Not spectacular, but okay. I like the story and although the script has a familiar ring of protagonists finding love and redemption after a tragic accident, the movie was still entertaining. But its really short screen time (approximately 45 minutes!) didn’t allow the characters’ backgrounds and story world of LaMB to be fully fleshed out. Yes, viewers who want more information on the world of Ceras can visit the official website to view the web manga. But how many will do so? Most viewers would straight away watch the movie first.
I also have some qualms about the animation quality in LaMB. LaMB’s art style uses a combination of 3D graphics and Flash animation; for the most part of the show, the art style works to paint a believable sci-fi world. However at times, the characters’ animations looked jerky and unnatural, especially when the characters are doing a normal walk or are talking. I don’t believe the jerky animation in LaMB is due to the limitations of Flash - I’ve seen some fantastic Flash animations on Newgrounds, and even on some local cartoon TV series using Flash. Perhaps the studio isn’t that experienced with handling realistic character movements in animated films? Furthermore for a “HD” animated film, the visuals in LaMB looked grainy than sharp. I think it’s because the visuals in LaMB aren’t optimized for cinema theatres.
The main characters’ voice work in LaMB is generally good, with Vaness Wu giving a solid performance as Jack Grisworld. I can’t really say the same about the peripheral characters such as the various soldiers, scientists, and even Keiko’s parents as their dialogue sounds uninspiring. Later on in the film, there is a major battle scene which felt odd to me because both fighters don’t utter a single word. I understand that their characters aren’t allowed to speak, but couldn’t they grunt or cry out in pain as they trade blows? Or maybe a little dialogue to show their motivations for fighting? The near silence during the fighting scene felt quite weird to witness in the theatre.
This is not to say that LaMB is a bad movie. The story in LaMB is good, and the voice acting (sans the peripheral characters) were solid. The 3D visuals were adequate but the animation could definitely use some improvement. If Animax-Asia were to broadcast another locally-produced animated film, I’d defintely watch it. Hopefully the premiere of LaMB this March 24th will spearhead the development of more cross-regional productions.
I knew Dragon Ball: Evolution movie was going to suck, so I was prepared for all sorts of major suckage. And true enough, it didn’t disappoint in this department. Some observations:
So in the end, what has the Dragon Ball: Evolution movie taught me? It taught me that years of fighting experience and training can be skipped as long as there is the allure of a hot girl promising to snog you at the end of your training. Sex is the greatest motivator!
I’ve finished Resident Evil 5 over the weekend and I’ve been replaying the game to get the achievements and extra weapons/figurines/costumes/etc.
Is it a good game? Yes, it is.
Is it a good Resident Evil game? I’m not quite sure.
Resident Evil 5 is basically Resident Evil 4 with a shiny new coat of HD graphics. That’s not a bad thing, but there’re a couple elements missing in RE5 that makes the series so memorable - suspense and horror. The introduction of coop is great for playing the game with a friend, but it makes the game less scary since you always have your partner to back you up. And the numerous sunny and bright-lit areas also reduces the scare factor. Ammo is also never really a problem because you can always replay a chapter and save the items and weapons in your inventory - when you have nearly a hundred shotgun shells in your inventory brought over from your previous replays, I don’t need to worry about running out of ammo anytime soon.
To call RE5 a survival-horror game would be misleading - it’s more of an action game. If anything, the only game in the market right now that’s faithful to the survivor-horror genre would be Left 4 Dead. In L4D, you really feel the suspense all around when you and your teammates enter an area devoid of zombies. When is the next onslaught coming? Do I have enough ammo? Will these painkillers be able to last me to the next safe room? Oh shit - is that a Tank I hear in the horizon?
Let me make it clear that even with the lack of tension and suspense, I still like RE5. It’s a great game, and it’s a lot of fun to play through over and over. And the ending nicely ties up the Umbrella arc and Albert Wesker’s involvement. But I’m a bit undecided over whether this makes it a good game in the RE series. Perhaps I should have seen it coming with RE4, when in later chapters Leon fights against enemies who can use crossbows and at one point, even a gatling gun.
It’s ironic that the latest instalment of the Resident Evil series is so unlike the genre that was spawned from its first game. News of a ‘reboot’ to the Resident Evil series may be a good thing. Capcom could start anew and craft a new story that’s more faithful to the survivor-horror genre. The new game might reinvent the survivor-horror genre, or even create a new one. There’s only so much one can build around the “virus turns human beings into zombies” theme until it becomes old - or dead.
A lot to digest this episode. First, Layfon’s lover from the first episode meets a disguised queen in the park one day and suddenly starts shedding tears as though she had met her destined one; the queen immediately grabs the girl’s boobs to solidify their new friendship. Next, some Deatheaters from Harry Potter decided to drop by the engineering room to try steal the electronic fairy (who eerily looks like Nunnaly with her eyes opened) which was powering the city, but got stopped in their tracks by a random dude who drops in from nowhere.
We also suddenly get a weird flashback(?) near the end of the episode where Neo from the Matrix rescues an experimented-on loli clad in a long-sleeved shirt and they proceed to have a lively conversation in fabulous Engrish with the girl sounding like she’s 20.
And this is all just in the 3rd episode. WOW. Did I miss an episode or something? Or are they trying to accommodate as much source material as possible in these 13 episodes? Well, at least Layfon gets to be called “Fon-Fon” by telepathic loli Felli. 
Seriously, what kind of idiot asks this kind of question when your teacher is beating the shit out of a little girl in front of you???? It’s bad enough that Keita is reimagined as an emo highschool student, but I didn’t think they’d also make his skull thickheaded. Maybe when his mom got hit by the car when he was younger, mommy’s body rebounded off his skull. That would explain why he’s so slow on the uptake.
The November 2008 issue of GameAxis Malaysia should be out by now and this month, we bring to you the latest videogame previews and reviews from the Tokyo Game Show 2008 and elsewhere. Also this month, I manage to interview Danny Choo from DannyChoo.com in which he reveals his plans for a new short movie clip staring the Tokyo Trooper as a salary man. For those who just want to read the interview with Danny, I’ll be putting up a PDF version of the interview soon. But those who want to read our TGS2008 cover story will have to support the mag by buying it. 
I recently played through Rhapsody for the DS and I enjoyed it, even though the gameplay is ridiculously simple. It’s a charming little RPG for players new to the genre, and to a certain extent it’s also very appealing for girl gamers for its light-hearted theme (the main character uses a horn to summon various desserts to attack her enemies). I’m now going through another NIS game - Disgaea DS - which is the total opposite of Rhapsody. While Rhapsody took me less than 10 hours to complete, Disgaea is going to take me a long, long time to complete, according to my experience with the PS2 version.
Misae’s arc comes to a nice close. Kurogane thinks it deserved another episode, but I think 2 episodes is just nice since it was a mini route. Anyway, instead of discussing the episode I thought I’d just point out the various character cameos instead since every other anime blogger will be blogging about the episode.
In the last couple weeks, two particular noteworty movies based on games have been unleashed to the mainstream public. The first one was Max Payne, which I just saw yesterday. Another one is Resident Evil: Degeneration, which will see a 2-week limited release at selected cinemas in Japan this month with the North American version debuting this December.
Let’s talk about the Max Payne movie adaptation first. For the most part, I enjoyed the movie despite the clunky acting. Mark Wahlberg’s constant stony expression and the lack of narration from his point of view (only present in the beginning and near the end of the movie) only makes his character appear flat. There were some departures from the game’s original story (e.g. the absence of the mob boss and the special agent) but for the most part the movie was faithful to the source material.
Max Payne is visually quite attractive, evoking memories of Sin City. Although it has a PG13 rating, Max Payne is graphically and suggestively violent. The lack of blood showing feels odd (for e.g. Max punches one guy silly, yet he has nary a trickle of blood on his face) but it didn’t detract from the movie too much. Max Payne could have done with more shootouts though, as the setup during the first half of the movie was slow and plodding.
On the 2nd day of the TGS2008, the press had the opportunity to watch Resident Evil: Degeneration, a new CG animated movie that serves to bridge Resident Evil 4 and the upcoming Resident Evil 5 next year. I must say that both me and my Singapore colleague were quite disappointed with the results. The character animation were stiff and the character faces look unnatural, probably due to the Uncanny Valley. In fact, having recently viewed Final Fantasy: Spirits Within on Blu-ray, I couldn’t help but think that FF:SW had better graphics, animation, and voice work - even for a 7-year old title. And don’t get me started on Degeneration’s poor pacing and laughable “emotional” scenes.
Before the start of the movie, the director was on stage to tell us not to post spoilers on who the villain is. Really, you won’t need anyone to tell you who the bad guy is. His first appearance in the movie screams “I AM SOOOOO THE ASSHOLE IN THIS MOVIE”, and if you’re expecting some sort of ‘twist’ to this movie, you won’t really be getting it. Degeneration feels more like a bunch of cutscenes that came from a panned Resident Evil game, stringed together as a full-length movie.
This month, our cover for the September 2008 issue of GameAxis Malaysia is just bursting with color. It’s a relief as I was getting tired of all those dreary brown palette typical of next-gen ‘HD’ games, which I’m seeing a lot now in Mercenaries 2 on the PS3. The game is incredibly buggy too, and the voice work can get ridiculously repetitive. But there’s a certain guilty pleasure at being able to blow up just about anything in the whole game, and the explosions are grand and a sight to watch.
You’ll also note that we have a special ‘burst’ balloon on the cover, announcing the details of the PS3 launch. I’m really glad that we managed to put the news of the launch on the cover in time, even though the original price for the bundle has since been slightly revised. I’m really looking forward to the upcoming PS3 launch party as it’s further recognition of the growing game community and industry in the country. Now we’ll just have to see how Microsoft will respond to this latest development.
I’ll be rushing to finish our October issue as I’ll be leaving for my Japan trip at the end of the month. Of course we won’t be compromising on the quality of the articles; we’ll just be stepping up our production flow this month. Our October issue is going to be awash with a different set of colors - one that I’m sure you’ll be seeing red all over.
Danny Choo Canned Dogs Kotaku