Unless you’ve been living under a rock or in Bradfordsville, Kentucky, you know that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is being released at midnight at most local gaming facilities. What you may not know is that I have to work all day tomorrow, so I’m probably not getting it for a couple days.
But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to hear about how awesome it is. So, leave us some comments and I’ll live vicariously through you. Deal?
release date: October 6, 2009
I’ll be straight up with you, right here, right now: the only thing wrong with this album is that there are so many good Mountain Goats albums out there already. This is the seventeenth Mountain Goats album. I’ve had my soul churned by the scathing, insightful voice of singer John Darnielle so many times before that it’s hard for me to jump into this album blindly. For example: I had open-heart surgery in 2007, and for the first month afterwards every time I tried to get out of bed, the chorus of “This Year” (from 2005’s The Sunset Tree) would play through my head incessantly; it’s a harrowing experience to hum “I am going to make it through this year if it kills me” repeatedly to yourself like that. Sorry, but as good as The Life of the World to Come is, I don’t plan on having an experience like that with this album.
For those of you that don’t know, The Mountain Goats is really just one guy and some friends that record something between conventional singer/songwriter songs and indie rock. It’s hard to classify, but there’s one universal element to the music – Darnielle’s urgently bleating voice, complemented by some truly incredible wordcraft. The past couple Mountain Goats albums have been a little too restrained, but The Life of the World to Come has a few hot-burners, so it’s all g.
If you’ve never heard The Mountain Goats, I recommend The Sunset Tree. If you’re already a fan, you won’t be disappointed with this one.
We here at Threevue are planning something. Something big. And at the very least, we’re going to need some help. This is where you come in.
If you’re interested in writing for/with/against us, send us an email with the following deets:
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Along with the gory details above, please send us two examples of your writing, one of which should be a review. Keep in mind that our site is dedicated to video games, music, movies, and the like. If we like what you have to say, you’ll hear back from us. Oh, and we can’t pay you until this site starts making money, which will hopefully happen someday. Good luck!
I will be in Vegas for the next few days, everybody. Try to carry on without me while I’m forced to do all those boring things that people are forced to in that terrible city, like drinking, gambling, killing people and burying them in the desert, you know, lame stuff like that.
Wish me luck!
release date: sometime in 2009
Songs About Zombies And Trust Issues is a CD-R album that was sold at Ben Barnett shows during this past year. Mr. Barnett was the brainchild of Kind of Like Spitting, one of my favorite bands. I’ve always been drawn to KOLS because Barnett sounds like he’s teetering on the edge of a breakdown during every song; it’s like the sound of his own voice is enough to push him over the edge. And for making music in a DIY-fashion most of the time (there was one “major” release on Barsuk in 2002), this fugly crazyman from Portland has always created diverse and expansive music, with only a couple crappy albums in a long line of releases. And he’s a motherfucker on the guitar, man.
The past two full-length KOLS releases were a bit disappointing, in that they felt too much like compilations of songs written and recorded all over the country to even be thought of as albums. Funny thing is
Songs About Zombies And Trust Issues sounds just like that, too, but much better. I think it has to do with the fact that these are much better songs. There’s a song with a Harry Potter reference (“Leave My Friends Alone”) and one of his better cover songs (Lennon’s “Jealous Guy”), although he’s made some great covers (you can get them for free here under “media”), and the fuzzy 4-track sound really fits with these songs.
Truth be told, this may be the best introductory album for someone looking to get into Kind of Like Spitting. You can find this album pretty easily on the web if you use this thing called Google. Apparently, Mr. Barnett is leading a new band, called Blunt Mechanic, who is releasing an album on Barsuk early next year. Considering how good Songs About Zombies And Trust Issues is, I can’t wait.
There’s a sale going on NOW where if you buy a $200 Xbox 360 Arcade, it comes with a $100 Amazon gift card. Considering the fact that you’re going to spend $100 on gifts this year from Amazon anyway, this is quite the deal if you don’t have an Xbox 360 yet (and you’re willing to piecemeal the rest of your Xbox 360 together later).
The sale is going on for the next two hours, so jump on it.
Is that an Eminem song I hear? Really? Way to tarnish the history of high-quality Call of Duty commercials and trailers with the most un-creative of music selections. This is one metal riff away from being that lame Section 8 commercial, or any other game that is trying to portray how hardcore it is by squeezing in some MTV music.
Remember that Gears of War ad with the song Mad World? It was slow, intense, and emotional. That’s how you make a commercial. Someone needs to consult me next time.
Imagine, if you will, that there are these magical people in Hollywood that can perform real magic. Now imagine that these magicians (I like to call them magickers) were able to take some beloved G.I. Joe figurines from the 1980s and transform them into real people (not being able to give them brains, mind you). Now (stay with me here), imagine that these life-sized figurines were given a budget of $175 million and told to make a live action film about themselves. And that’s how we came upon G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra.
I’m not joking here, folks. I tend to rag on “refresh” films like Transformers which seem to only be after money, but this here film is certifiably, filthily bad. This film is so bad that it took me three days to watch it, because I kept turning it off in disgust. But alas, I gave it a college try if only for the slight chance it would redeem itself. Didn’t happen. It’s not even true to the series, which I vaguely remember from my childhood. Although I do remember that Cobra Commander wasn’t played by Shigeru Miyamoto.
The only thing I can give G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra credit for are the following three revelations:
1. This film probably made 30-year old rednecks say “wow” every five minutes
2. This is the best film to feature a Wayan brother in ten years
3. This film has already made $300 million, so apparently I am a fucking idiot anyway
I realize that this game has been out for a while already, but the demo dropped today onto the Xbox Live Marketplace so I decided to give it a whirl. I didn’t play much of the first Marvel Ultimate Alliance, mostly because it reminded me too much of an underwhelming X-men: Legends game I played on the PSP waaaay back in 2004.
I like that they tried to expand the scope of the game a bit by including bright, outdoor levels. It makes the always-dungeony isometric view a little more palatable and wide. The graphics look prettier, and there seems to be more combat going on at once than before. Unfortunately, the same thing that mires down all games like this is exacerbated in MUA2’s new scheme – I had the damnedest time figuring out which character I was controlling and who was a good/bad guy.
The demo only lasted about 5-10 minutes (that’s including the fact that half the demo is cutscenes), which wasn’t a fair enough assessment of how repetitive the combat will be. I’m assuming it’ll be the same story as the previous game, which means that if you’re into this kind of game you’ll like it. Otherwise, if you were thinking that this was the iteration of the series you were going to jump into, you might want to wait for a better sequel.
Up is the latest Pixar film, and I saw the 2D version. If you have a soul you probably already like Pixar films, and have either seen this or plan on seeing it. If that’s you, you’ll like this film. There’s not much to not like, honestly. Pixar monopolized the family-centric computer animated film industry several movies ago, and now they’re just rubbing it in our faces; but I’m okay with that, since these films are still really good.
Up follows the life of one man, who does what we all yearn to do some days: attach a bunch of helium balloons to a house and fly to South America. The film builds several relationships and addresses issues that are a little darker than your typical Pixar fare (death, mainly) with delicate and unsurprising tact. And though it’s a good film, it’s not the best Pixar product (I still side with Ratatouille) but still better than any film made by the other studios. In summary, Ratatouille>Up>Dreamworks.
In playing L4D2 I was reminded exactly what it was that attracted everyone to playing the original: it was the not knowing. The first time playing through No Mercy in L4D you had no idea where to go or what was around the corner. At no point could you determine how far through the level you were or when you were about to reach the next set piece/horde attack point. You were just running and shooting. You wanted to get to the safe house, and when you did you ran in the door, turned around, saw a mob of zombies running full-tilt towards you and you slammed the door.
Then you said, “fuuuuuuck…”
And you’re going to do it again with Left 4 Dead 2. The original was immediately thrilling to play with friends but it had no real legs to speak of. Even I admit that Blood Harvest becomes a little stale after the 15th playthrough. It was suffered from the repetition of 4 chapters, 5 boss infected, 7 guns and that’s it.
L4D2 now has 5 chapters, at least 7 special infected, 23 weapons and only more to come with DLC.
The few things I didn’t like about the game that I picked up from the demo is the fact that you still cannot customize the controller. I know, it’s my go-to bitching point, but why Valve? I can do it all your other games. I need those precious milliseconds in the game. My thumbs will, for the rest of my life, think reload is “X” and not “B”. Also, I didn’t know that melee weapons take the place of sidearms. With that prospect I don’t see myself picking up a police baton over a second, unlimited-ammo pistol any time soon. Though, at more than one point I stared down a lone zombie as he sprinted towards me down a long alley only to switch to my machete a second before he got to me and loped his head off like a samurai.
Final verdict: The demo is out on XBLA, go get it.
I know it’s, like, your #1 priority in life to listen to this podcast. However, if you gander at the clock and it happens to be 9:30 PM on November the 4th– Then you need to get your ass to Gyenari in Culver City, Ca. for some Rock Banding.
This week is all about Quantum of Solace, Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction, Words with Friends, MKVs, Borderlands, and homework!
Musical Guest: American Analog Set
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Monsters vs Aliens is the latest in Dreamworks’ fantasy in which they hire all of Hollywood to voice one movie. I’m not kidding, look at this cast: Reese Witherspoon, Seth Rogen, Hugh Laurie, Will Arnett, Kiefer Sutherland, Rainn Wilson, Stephen Colbert, Paul Rudd, Julie White, Jeffrey Tambor, Amy Poehler, Ed Helms, Renée Zellweger, and John Krasinski. Yeah, you read right – Julie White.
It’s a fair film, with its share of inside jokes and visual treatsies. One thing that struck me about the film is that the main character (Reese Witherspoon) deals with some heavy stuff, and has a bit of an existential crisis. Also, there are some real-deal gay issues somewhat subtly presented by John Krasinski. It’s pretty deep for a cartoon. Other than that, though, it’s mostly just quick and witty dialogue, punctuated by Rainn Wilson and Stephen Colbert (who plays an excellent POTUS).
Chances are you know what you’re up against with a film like this, and it didn’t disappoint. Much better than the game demo I played, which was so bad I didn’t do a writeup about it.
It’s busy times for us here at the Threevue HQ, so much so that we had to look for outside help for some of our write-’em-ups). So we are posting some of the old stuff that slipped through the cracks in the past for one reason or another (coughMarkcough). So enjoy some old school Threevue goodness.
Russ:
I didn’t buy an Xbox 360 until it had been out for a good 18 months, and when I did get it, I considered the original Gears of War to be my new console’s first must-have game. Its then-jaw-dropping graphics and cover system that actually worked sometimes were kind of a big deal for me, and felt like our first true next-gen game. It had its share of flaws, including everything from gameplay changeups that were thinly veiled as storyline elements to some ridiculously unfair difficulty spikes. But overall, it was a decent, shallow game with a multiplayer mode filled with devotees that wail on me instantly. And when Gears of War 2 came out last fall with screenshots that looked a lot like its predecessor, I didn’t buy it. If I wanted to play something like it, I could just play the first game, right?
After picking up the game used for cheap, I was happy I had waited. The single player campaign took me only a few nights to finish, and I’m just as intimidated to play the multiplayer as I was with the first title. And as you’ve read a million times before, this game does exactly what a sequel should do, by expanding everything and throwing in a few twists. It feels much more balanced, although I felt strung along during the last chapter with a few too many generic gun battles. The difficulty has been tweaked and smoothed out, and the easy setting is actually easy this time around. But the most marked improvements are in the graphics realm; in particular, there is one section where you open up an old building and there are dust particles floating in the air, reflecting against Jack’s floodlights. That moment has easily the most immersing graphics I’ve experienced in a game, and broke down some barriers that I didn’t think an action game could do.
All in all, it was a great game that I’ll revisit sometime in the future, and I’m looking forward to Gears of War 3 more than I expected to. Who knows, I might even try the multiplayer some day, too.
91/100
Tyler:
I don’t know what happened. Somewhere between 2007 and 2008 Epic turned Gears of War in to a fairly good game. I guess when you make one of the highest grossing titles in history it pays to heed the criticism more so than the adulation. Thankfully it seemed that Clifford Blezninsky and his fellows did just that. The game was no longer a blur of gray urban destruction. The story was progressed and even built to emotional climaxes at points and it seemed no longer like an 8-hour repetition of run/cover/shoot/reload/shoot/reload/repeat. Online was expanded and given many new features such as the Horde Mode. All in all, a vast improvement from the original.
Still GOW2 had its problems. For all of its massive action and epic battles the game boils down the way most action shooters do. Unless you play it on the easiest setting you’ll be spending the majority of your time filling your enemies with round after round while they slowly amble towards cover. You’ll be pelted with ridiculous one liner after another until the emotional impact of the story wears off and you care only about getting through the level to the next big explosion. Huge improvement from the original though.
85/100
It’s a real cop-out when something is named “Pandora.” Oooh, Pandora’s Box, I get it, that’s really foreboding, oooh. Let me guess, a bunch of bad stuff happens there.
Exhibits A and B: The planet in Borderlands is called Pandora, as is the planet in the movie Avatar. Real original guys, why don’t you just name them Planet Danger, or Negative Connotation World? Let’s try a little harder from now on, shall we?
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