The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

1 1/2 stars? I would have never saw that one coming...Lets be serious though I bet just about everyone knew this movie was going to suck. What's really amusing is the video interview of the cast below. First off M.Bison is apparently Irish in this movie, so right then an there you should know this director had no idea what he was doing. It gets worse though because you have characters that bare no resemblance to their in game characters. Example:
Also I'm pretty sure the games most famous characters like Ryu, Ken, Guile, Sagat, Blanka etc. are not even in the movie. I understand the director was trying to go for the whole "origin of Street Fighter " but you just can't have a Street Fighter movie without these characters, I mean what the hell was this guy thinking when he did the cast. Going back to how funny the video interview is, it should be noted that at one point Chris Klien tells everyone to forget about the old Street Fighter movie and makes it seem like the Legend Of Chun Li is going to be pure box-office gold, its almost like he doesn't realize the movie he just made is complete trash. The funny thing is IGN says in their review that the old Street Fighter with Van Damme is actually a better movie. Mark my words you will feel embarrassed for these actors during the interview because they make it seem like they really believe in the movie they just made and they think they are staying true to the fans, but the truth is they have no idea what Street Fighter is about and they just look like a bunch of liars promoting their movie so they can make a quick buck. Damn this movie to the depths of video game movie hell I say, and make sure you never waste you're money or time on this piece of garbage, but do indulge yourself in a few laghs by checking out the video below.

I like how all of the Ulduar equipment share a similiar look and after a couple weeks of raiding your guild will probably look pretty cool.
Heres the pics.

With the introduction of Ulduar comes a brand new artifact weapon. Val'anyr, the Gavel of Ancient Kings, will be a mace formed from 40 "Fragments of Val'anyr, and will be available to paladins, priests, shamans, and druids. Here's a video of the unfinsihed Val'anyr model without the particle effects holding the ends together.


The Argent Tournament rewards have also been leaked and look pretty cool as well. New city specific tabards and mounts will add a pretty cool new look to players as they are able to represent their home city. I'm still pretty annoyed about the lifting of the restrictions for race specific mounts. I guess I'm the only one that liked to see a wide diversity of mounts instead of every player riding on a frostsaber. This is a tournament where you represent your home city, not someone elses. Humans should ride horses, blood elves chocobos, etc. But maybe I'm just racist.
Heres the pictures and specifics on those.

Finally, in the updated patch notes, mention of an underwater mount was mentioned in the form of an underwater ray. This, along with multiple new items for underwater breathing further hints at the new expansion being the Maelstrom, located between the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor. It is still unknown however if the mission to acquire the sting ray will involve killing a well known animal expert.

(click images to see all 4 variants)

Mage

Warrior

Warlock

Shaman

Rogue

Priest

Paladin

Hunter

Druid

Death Knight

Original Xbox Top Live Titles (based on UU’s)

1 Halo 2
2 Star Wars: Battlfrnt 2
3 Counter-Strike
4 Fable
5 Splinter Cell Chaos
6 Conker: Live Reloaded
7 Doom 3
8 Star Wars: Battlefront
9 Call of Duty 3
10 Street Fighter Anniv.

Top Community Games NEW! (Full Versions purchased)

1 RC-AirSim
2 Bowling X
3 Miner Dig Deep
4 Rumble Massage
5 Remote Masseuse
6 bricks4ever
7 Golden Royal Blackjack
8 Barf And Beer
9 A Game of Tennis
10 Simply HangMan

The game is set a few hundred years later in the 15th century. Gone are the knights in shining armor, replaced by men with strange mustache and codpieces.

The story will involve feuding families and disguises will play a part in the game a la Hitman. The focus testers were also asked to choose between one of three new designs for the new Altair. They were more brightly colored than the original,the main difference between them being different colors and pouches. The word "ezio," an Italian name derived from the word for "eagle" which was the symbol of Altair in the first game was under each picture.

Gunpowder was also said to be able to be used to propel objects at others and with the introduction of gunpowder, guns will probably figure somewhere into the game at some point. The game is apparently going to be shown at this years E3 and will be released either late this year or early next.

While it wasn't stated, I'm speculating a large part of it will take place at or around Italy. The family feud could be similar to the family feud between the Montagues and Capulets in Romeo and Juliet which took place in Italy. The word "Ezio" seems to heavily point in that direction also. While it hasn't been confirmed if these claims are in fact true, E3 seems to be a good bet for the unveiling.

The Good:

• Gameplay- Anyone looking for a realistic hockey sim should look at the above picture. This is not meant to be the hockey game you own, just a fun pick up and play game. Controls are simple enough. One button shoots, one dekes, one passes, and one does a trick shot while on defense you have buttons to hit the other player on his ass. The game is pretty much Super Mario Strikers on skates with more emphasis placed on hitting the opponent than on really coming up with plays. Even the goalie is fair game which adds some strategy although small. Powerups are acquired by decking the opponent and include things like "Rocket Skates" and "Tiny Goalie". The gameplay is extremely easy to learn and a lot of fun.
• Power-Ups- Powerups are acquired by decking the opponent and include things like "Rocket Skates" and "Tiny Goalie". Though you cant wait to use them for the opportune time like in Strikers, they are extremely useful and can change the momentum of the game very quickly.
• Menu Sound Effects- Yes it sounds weird to put something like this on the list at all but honestly they are hysterical. In lieu of actual sound effects, the creators decided to use their own voices for the "swishes" when sliding between menus and the other button presses. It's hard to explain why it's so funny but every time I hear it I crack up.
  
• Great Party Game- 3 on 3 is really a game designed for multiplayer. Not that it has a large amount of multiplayer options, it's just that this game is best played when a bunch of friends are over sitting on the same couch.
  
• Online Leaderboards- Everything from yours and your friends online career is kept track of. You can compare wins, losses, goals scored, and goals against which can lead to some pretty heated arguments about who is better, the guy who losses 2-1 or the guy that wins 9-8.

The Bad:

• Announcer- He gets a bit tiresome and repetitive.

• No fighting- I just thought of what this game was really missing and I think the developers made a huge blunder in not putting it in. Fights. In a game this over the top and with such an emphasis on hitting, a fight mechanic in which the two opponents could do some extremely ridiculous things would've added a lot to the game.

The Ugly:

• Options- You can pick a few different players for your team, pick how many goals you play until, and that is pretty much it. No tournament mode, no season mode, nothing that will keep you interested in playing.
  
• Teams- I considered myself a hockey fan but apparently not since I never knew there was a "Red Team" and a "Blue Team" in the NHL. These are the only teams in the game. No Rangers, no Penguins, no Devils, no opportunities to make rivalry games and grudge matches. Any player can play for any team making your team pick worthless.
  
• Repetitive Gameplay- The gameplay, while fun, doesn't quite hold up on single player. Once you play a game or two, you've pretty much seen everything the games got to offer and will probably put it down till the next time your buddies come over.

Overall this is a very fun game but one that doesn't hold much replay value outside of multiplayer. While you don't have to be a hockey fan to enjoy it, the price might be a little steep for anyone that doesn't plan on playing with others.

Final Score: 6.5

• The ability to dual spec will be unlocked at level 40
• It will cost 1000 gold and will be taught by class trainers
  
• It will be taught by any class trainer
• A second glyph pane will open up
• A second set of action bars will open up
• No reagent required
• 5 second cast
• Can be used in combat and battle grounds
  

A lot of changes are already going live on the public test realms which is a very good sign. Patch 3.1 is no longer the stuff of legend and I'm extremely excited for what will make raiding much easier. You no longer will have to pay gold to respec and respec again or risk be turned away. Now, with a simple click, you will become exactly what is needed for that particular situation. Patch 3.1 can't come soon enough.

• Mounted Combat- it wasn't said whether this would involve your own mounts or new mounts.
• Tournament Coliseum- daily quests to help build the coliseum would also be included.
• New achievements
• New Rewards-Tabards, items, armor, weapons, etc.

Zarhym also added "Players will find the Argent Tournament in Icecrown. Speaking to any Northrend flight master will get you on track to prove your worth to the Argent Crusade, your faction’s leaders, and all denizens of Azeroth!"

No real word on the details of it but with Blizzard stating the patch was "very close", be expecting a lot of it in the days to come.

Click the images to full screen.

Original Xbox Top Live Titles (based on UU’s)

1 Halo 2
2 Star Wars: Battlfrnt 2
3 Counter-Strike
4 Fable
5 Street Fighter Anniv.
6 Splinter Cell Chaos
7 Conker: Live Reloaded
8 Splinter Cell Chaos
9 Doom 3
10 Call of Duty 3

Top Community Games NEW! (Full Versions purchased)

1 RC-AirSim
2 Rumble Massage
3 Miner Dig Deep
4 Bowling X
5 Golden Royal Blackjack
6 Remote Masseuse
7 Simply HangMan
8 Air Legends
9 A Game of Tennis
10 Ocean Scenes

Now with that being said Dark Sector is a game that knows it's place, It's not trying to blow you're mind with over the top cinematics or start a franchise of games, its simply a fun game that tries something new and succeeds at it. Many people will hop into this game thinking they are using the Unreal Engine 3 because of the dark gritty environments. You will be very surprised to know this is not the Unreal Engine but a new engine known as the Evolution Engine. The game is simply beautiful from the golden dusk vistas to the gloomy dark blue cemeterys. However the game starts off in black and white, and only until Hayden (you're main character) becomes infected with a virus does the world fill with color. I believe this has something to do with character development because Hayden is a very ruthless killer in the beginning and only once he becomes infected with a virus does he see "The Light" and change his ways. This "virus" is all over and its very clear in the environment as you can see dozens of body bags thrown next to trash cans and the fact that everyone is wearing a gas mask and environmental suits makes it pretty obvious. You're mission pertains to this virus in a great deal because you must stop a rouge agent who seeks to control the virus and use it for evil. However you're mission turns sour when you yourself get infected and receive a new weapon known as a Glaive. However after you receive the glaive the game really starts to open up and show its strengths. The glaive is used like a boomerang and once thrown in combat it will automatically find its way back to Hayden no matter what. The core of the gameplay revolves around this glaive and most of the games puzzles and bosses must be defeated with proper use of it. For example you're glaive can absorb 3 elements; Fire, Ice and Electricity. Now if you came across a river you would throw you're glaive into ice then throw it into the river, the river would then freeze over making a ice bridge for you to cross. This concept will work the same for bosses and will constantly be used for puzzle solving throughout the game. You can also freeze, burn, or electrocute your enemies with these elements making for some very strategic gameplay. Hayden also receives 4 powers throughout the experience. The first power will let you throw the glaive for quadruple damage, however you must throw it when you're reticule turns yellow otherwise it will not work. This can take some time to get down but once you do, you will feel like a glaive master. The second power is my favorite, it allows you to slow down time and take control of the glaive in mid-flight. This is great because you will have full control of the glaive, with the ability to turn it around corners leaving you're enemies little cover to hide behind. It's satisfying to see you're enemies die in slow motion as well, wheather it be sawing them in half, decapitating them, or just taking off one of their limbs. The 3rd power is probably the most useful because it creates a huge shield that reflects bullets, missiles and any other projectile thrown at Hayden. The shield will only last for a few seconds so you must use it sparingly before it recharges again. The 4th and final power is "Invisibility" this power is pretty self-explanatory but it will make it easier to pull off some of Haydens brutal finishers. These finishers must be executed when you're enemies are blinking red or when you sneak up behind them. Some of these can be a simple snap of the neck while some look like brutal murder. In one finisher Hayden took his glaive and stabbed the enemy in the gut, then proceeded to run it up to the enemies neck then turned him around and sliced his head off. That is only one of the many finishers you will see, also you will get a different finisher depending on the enemy you kill as well. There are a number of different enemies in Dark Sector. They span from regular humans, to zombies, to things that can only be described as gargoyles with powers. You are always up against something new and it keeps things fresh so it never becomes too repetitive. Also to break up the action there are a couple of moments when you control a walking tank known as a "Jackal". The Jackal moments are great, you get to blow you're enemies away with a chain gun and missiles, you also have a pretty cool defensive option with the ability to diverge oncoming missiles with signal flares, much like fighter planes do in dogfights. Another thing keeping things fresh was the scary moments in the game, it should be known that I jumped a couple times playing this one and things can get pretty eerie at times. Now after reading about all these powers and tanks I know what you're thinking "Wow this game must be easy". The funny thing is it really wasn't easy at all, I found myself dying a lot and actually having trouble with the learning curve in it. Not until after I mastered Hayden's abilities did the game get a little easier, but you must learn to be one with you're glaive and learn how to use you're powers properly, otherwise you're zombie food.


The Bad

Dark Sector is a great game but all games have their faults and Dark Sector is no exception. One of the main problems is the story. You really don't have a good idea of whats going on and its all just happening so fast you really can't keep up. Also you will notice connections with these characters in the game, but you don't know how they got to know each other or why they are so close, its like the game just expects you to know. It is also clear Hayden has a dark past and everyone keeps referring to him like some monster but without knowing his full background you don't really care. Another problem is the voice acting. Its hard for me to say it was bad but, the thing is you just don't believe the things they are saying, their words have no emotion behind them and the dialog can be just plain bad at times. It saddens me because there is such potential for a great story and they completely ruined it. One thing that will really take you out of the experience is the enemy AI. I swear sometimes I thought the enemies I was fighting were autistic, somtimes the enemy would just stare off into space or run around in circles staying as far away from cover as possible. I noticed most of these encounters would happen only with the human and zombie AI, the gargoyle AI actually worked really well. These problems were all pretty bad but perhaps the biggest problem lies within the upgrade system. There are tons of collectible upgrades all over the map and you can upgrade you're guns with perks similar to ones in Call of Duty like a bigger ammo clip or rounds that pierce through you're enemies etc. These are great but the fact you cannot removes these upgrades once they have been attached is very frustrating. In one instance I upgraded my pistol with extra firepower and it barley added anything to my damage, I could not take the upgrade off and put it on another gun it was just simply wasted and I also lost an upgrade slot. In order to get it off I had to restart my game and do it again. One thing that might leave the online gamers a little pissed off is the fact the online is non-existent now. Yeah it seems no one is playing Dark Sector online at all. At first I was a little disappointed but then I realized the game was 10.00$, and forgot all about online.

The Ugly
One thing about games nowadays, if you get bad AI you usually get bad glitches, they always seem to go hand an hand in video games. The usual clipping in and out of walls, guns sticking to objects, you're glaive going through walls, you know all those stupid glitches...there are all here. However I played the game twice and failed to see as many glitches on the "brutal" difficulty setting, it was very odd. Another thing I found to be very odd was the cover system, it actually worked very well, being very responsive, much like Gears of War but the one thing that made it on the ugly list was switching from cover to cover. The odd thing was whenever I would switch from wall to wall Hayden would automatically come off the wall and stand in plain site, time and time again it would happen until I figured out you had to press A again once hitting your back against another piece of cover. It is done very sloppy and many times you will forget to press A that second time getting yourself shot and killed. However once mastered things can run pretty smooth. However there is no blind-fire capability and in games with a cover system blind-fire can be pretty important nowadays. Also a couple of times I was on a small piece of cover and had no ability to duck leaving my head exposed for enemies to pick off, this can get really annoying. But I'd have to say out of all of the ugly things with Dark Sector I would have to say the melee is the ugliest feature of them all, however this is a big complaint I have with 3rd person shooters in general. It seems Gears Of War is the only one that got it down pretty good with the chainsaw but even that is really broken in multiplayer, Resident Evil has a bad melee as well, how stupid is standing there with a knife waiting for an enemy to come in range to slice them? Aren't knife fights suppose to be fast paced and quick movements? Well unfortunately Dark Sector doesn't really break any mold here, the melee attacks go through you're enemies and basically have no affect even when they do strike, leaving them pretty much useless. I patiently await the day when 3rd person shooters get the melee down right.

Final Grade 8.5

Final Thoughts
I gave Dark Sector an 8.5 because I believe it was a great game and was just really over-shadowed by games like Rainbow Six Vegas 2, Condemmed2: Bloodshot, Army Of Two and God Of War: Chains of Olympus, games that all came out in March of 2008. People failed to see it under all of these new releases and it really didn't help sales. It is unfortunate because Dark Sector was one of the first games being developed for 360, however it was scraped in the early stages and the developers had to start over, which is why it took so long to release. I feel if it had been released before games such as Gears of War it would have been one of the better known tittles. Instead critics will bash Dark Sector and say it falls short of being one of the greats. Dark Sector will diminish in the dark and will never have its time under the spotlight and its a damn shame. The reason I did this review is so people will pick this game up and see how great of a game Dark Sector really is, so if you liked what you read do yourself a favor an pick this one up... I mean come on it's 10.00$.

Click to expand the image.

PlayStation 3 203.2K
Xbox 360 309K
Wii 679.2K

Nintendo:


Microsoft:


Sony:

ASSEMBLE!

Overall:

The movie, like the book starts out with the murder of the Comedian, a "super hero" in this stories alternate 1980's. The Snyder-Slow-Mo is in full effect in the opening fight through the Comedians apartment. While the murder in the book only lasted about five panels, the movie extends it to about five minutes, every one of those minutes is extremely brutal. Knives are thrown and knives are caught, punches thrown and punches landed, and the "Snyder Slow Mo" is in full effect for all of it, going in and out of the action but never hampering it. One actually begins to feel sorry for the Comedian, something that the reader never really felt. The scene ends with the Comedians murder and Bob Dylan's "The Times, They Are A'Changin" begins playing to the credits.

I actually loved the credit sequence in this movie. One of the reasons many people believe this book to be so difficult to film is that there is more than just one story going on, one in the present(alternate 1980's) and one in in the past. During the credit sequence, scenes showing the history of the first group of vigilante crime fighters and their influence on events of the time. A few of them were very cool to see(The Comedian on the grassy knoll). Without spending story time and without making the audience watch pointless images as they read the names of people involved in the film, the history of the first generation of heroes is given and one already has some idea of the different world in which this story takes place. After the credits, Rorschach, the paranoid psychotic vigilante who makes the Punisher look like a priest, shows up to investigate the crime scene and discovers that this might be more then just a regular homicide.

The next scene involves Rorschach in a prison being hassled by an inmate. I don't want to give to much away but just know one thing- it involves a deep fryer. As Rorschach is pulled away, his screams and warnings to the other inmates are genuinely scary and terrifying.
After the footage, Dave Gibbons, the artist of the graphic novel held a Q and A with the audience members. The first person asked if Alan Moore, the writer of the Watchmen, was indeed as terrifying as he looked. This is Alan Moore

When asked about the change to the ending, Gibbons confirmed that the ending had been changed. He said that although the exact means to the end had been changed, the outcome is the same. The final question was to a fan who how much nudity from Dr. Manhattan we should expect. Gibbons replied with just one word. Total.

Overall this movie looks amazing. Everything from the dark tone to the look of the characters and the world is great. It's hard to believe this movie is less than a month away. You can pick up the book for about 20 bucks at any book store and most of them have it featured prominently in the front of the store. I highly recommend reading it although it doesn't seem like you need to to understand the movie. One last warning, something happens about three quarters through the book regarding the identity of one of the characters. For those people that like to look on IMDB about the movie and the actors, DO NOT LOOK AT THE ACTORS PAGE. I repeat, do not look at the actors page. It is a huge spoiler if you know who is playing one of the heroes.

Gone is Frank West and the shopping mall of Willamette, Colorado. A new protagonist seems to have taken over. While details are slim, what we do know is that the story takes place a few years after the outbreak at the mall and that the virus has spread across the United States. The game will take place in the "gambling paradise of Fortune City". No word on a release date yet but I'll be the first in line when it finally does hit store shelves.