‘Starfox Command’ is Nintendo’s fifth Starfox game (if you count ‘Starfox Adventures’) and their first Starfox game for the DS. I’ve been a long time ‘Starfox’ fan, ever since the original was released back in 1993 (wow, it’s been 13 years already?). I’ve always been a fan of non-simulation shooters and since I’ve been craving a new game for my DS, so ‘Starfox Command’ was an instant buy for me. I jumped on this title the day it was released, but was I too quick to throw my thirty bucks at it so eagerly?

Starting Out:
The game starts out just as you’d expect, you’ve got your basic start menu for single-player, download play (multiplayer modes which I’ll cover later in the review), wi-fi play (again, I’ll cover later) and your options menu, all complete with dramatic Starfox music! You’ll probably want to hit up the options menu first, considering that the game starts out with non-inverted controls and if you’re anything like me, you’d normally expect them inverted in a flight game. You can also adjust your sound settings with the ability to change the characters voices. You have “normal”, “recorded” and “machine”. Normal goes back to the classic “Starfox” sounding voices, if you never played the original, they’re basically the same gibberish, “Microsoft Sam” sounding voices like in ‘Animal Crossing’. “Recorded” is actually really cool because it asks you a bunch of questions, getting a range of sound from your own voice and cutting it up and mixing your phrases into fake words, giving the characters the tone of your or a friend’s voice. “Machine” is just the old-school beeps and bloops during text. Also in the options menu, you can set up your nickname for Multiplayer and Wi-Fi modes.
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Shit Sandwich.

This game is terrible. I’ve played some dumbed down crap games, but never had an excellent, barnstormer game like Burnout been lost so completely.

The blame lies entirely in the DS hardware. It can’t support Criterions’s “RenderWare” engine. The game engine in its place is some kind of Ridge Racer knock off, very slow, with the added ability to explode on any crash. But with the limited DS capabilities, the crashes don’t entertain or amaze like the Xbox version or whatever.

I don’t even want to talk about it. Its been out for months, but I finally rented it. I really loved Burnout Revenge. I really hate this. I had to post this just in case someone out there might find it in a bargain bin and remember how well reviewed the console versions were.

Its now being hailed at the most anticipated movie of 2007, and its production has been a long time in the making and the subject of much fan speculation, cheer, and frustration.

I have read John Roger’s script, “Pime Directive.” I am going to let you know right now I am a Transformers fan. I’ve read virtually every issue of every comic series, spent thousands on toys, and can recite the 1986 movie word for word. But I’m also a movie fan, and would rather have no new Transformer movie than another terrible summer action movie, and I recognize how even the best adaptations end up shattered promises, failing to deliver on the origins of a great source.

New elements do not puzzle or needlessly change the history of the franchise, but enhance the narrative, allowing the introduction and origin to be told in a more accesible way. The military presence in the movie is felt throughout, and not only does it work, it makes me wonder why the army never took up arms against Transformers before. This does not take away, this does not change, this adds to the story.

Not to say its perfect. In fact, theres 2 characters I don’t really care for at all and could be taken out completely and even losing their expository dialog we’d still have a functional plot and movie. But I do like what I have read. It will not win any academy awards, but it will satisfy a summer movie audience.

Weighing in at 112 pages, this would make the movie, if shot directly from the page, a little less than 2 hours. Fans might not like that it takes a while to really get any Autobots, but the first half of Spiderman and Batman Begins are decidedly without the title hero, so its not that big a deal. It is felt right away this is a movie for Michael Bay when action sequences come with little down time within minutes of the films start. This will be a spectacle film, and I have high hopes the fights suggested on the page translate into elaborate brawls and firefights.

I’m also happy to report the new characters Blackout and Barricade are really cool. Blackout (called “Vortex” in script) is a military attack helicopter, and one of the largest Decepticons. He’s involved very early on in the film, and is interesting enough to make you wonder why any helicopter Transformers of the past had been this well utilized. Barricade (script name “Brawl”) is a high powered police car, and while theres no corny “bad cop” stuff in his dialog or actions, it all really works when put together.

Thats really a ringing endorsement if there ever was one. This movie is not corny. It is not Scooby Doo. Its not Spy Kids. It takes itself seriously whenever possible. The Bumblebee & Spike stuff is bordering on stupid, but Shia LaBeouf is a good comedic actor and he may be able to pull this off. Everyone involved openly says they want to start a new movie franchise, and Michael Bay is anxious to direct a movie kids and parents can both enjoy. I’ve got to have faith they’re not interested in ruining it for the existing fans, and really trying to make new ones.

Continue on for a spoiler-enhanced review.
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Rather than write a review, I thought I would do a video to show why Cybertron Primus should be higher on your Transformers Buy List than it is right now. I wasn’t excited about the figure until I opened him up, but it didn’t take long for me to be an avid fan of the mold.

Special thanks to Zac for taking the time to edit the video for me.

Richard Linklater’s film adaptation of the story by Phillip K. Dick, A Scanner Darkly is the semi-Autobiographical story of Dick’s own battles with substance abuse and his perceived course of the drug war.

Published in 1977, his bleak outlook gave us only 7 years until everything we say and do is monitored. Obviously, the current world climate nearly 30 years later is coming closer to that becoming a reality than ever.

Keanu Reeves plays the role of Robert Arctor, an undercover narcotics agent who has to ingest dangerous amounts of the drug he’s trying to get off the streets in order to maintain his cover. The drug “Substance D” causes brain damage and combining that with his already split identity causes Arctor to slowly lose grip on reality. Woody Harrelson, Robert Downey Jr, Winona Ryder, and Rory Cochrane round out the cast as Reeve’s perpetually stoned friends.

Linklater took great care with the visual style of this movie, using a rotoscoping technique where actors are filmed and then had animation cells and computer effects painted over the original film. While the film rarely takes upon any action that one might associate with producing a feature in such a manner, the story calls for some events and visuals where the medium is pitch perfect.
With Total Recall, Blade Runner, and Minority Report already successful adaptations of Phillip K Dick stories, this one is much more subdued, a lot less action packed, more paranoid, and as a result, more faithful to the source material.

The score by the Golden Arm Trio with songs by Radiohead and Thom Yorke assists the ambiance of a “world getting progressively worse.”

Some may be turned off by the film’s lack of motion. Its also hurts that a so clearly science-fiction concept in its time resembles life today so closely. Had the film been made 10, 20 years ago in the same way, it would’ve seemed revolutionary and controversial. But its concepts are so accepted as fact or eventualities that it becomes too easy to pick apart the drama and characters.

But thats OK. Not every head trip movie has to be for every person who liked head trip movies. Certainly Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas was a failure in theatrical release, but a favorite on dvd years later. A Scanner Darkly may take a few years to reach its ultimate audience.

I can say, however, that I enjoyed it.

Trailer: A Scanner Darkly

Fatboy Slim survived the late 90s fascination with techno by creating a big beat sound that… well crap I don’t know how he survived, but it was long enough to compile a greatest hits record.

The opening salvo of “Rockafeller Skank” lets you know pretty much exactly what you’re in for. Fast, fun dance music bouncing along with a refrain repeated to the point that you can sing along by 30 seconds into the cut even if you’ve never heard the song before.

It is kind of amazing how well “Weapon Of Choice” holds up as a track on its own without the video of Christopher Walken dancing along. But after “Praise You,” “Going Out Of My Head,” and sped-up remix of “Brimful of Asha” by Cornershop whiz by, the second half of the record fall off. I suppose part of the problem is that there was no radio format available to play these more recent singles, but they also don’t seem to resonate as “hits” though “Demons” and the new track included “That Old Pair Of Jeans” do show some growth into creating some real songs instead of just mindless head bobbing music (no matter how fun the head bobbing is).

Its summer time. This is your opportunity to get in the car with the sunroof down and holla “Right about now, Funk Soul Brother!” at others. And don’t feel guilty if you want to listen to the same track more than once.

The crack editorial team here assembled in the Powet Watchtower this week to dish out the Final Word on Superman Returns.
After the jump, you can read four reviews, and four differing views on the same movie.
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The first wave of Revoltech figures has finally hit retail and I was able to get my hands on a Shin Getter 1 figure a couple weeks ago. I have taken a number of pictures of the figure and posted them in a gallery available here.

Continue reading for a review of the figure.
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