[Movies] Silent Hill (2006)

You all know I'm bad with horror movies. By the same virtue, I'm bad with survival horror games. And yes, I admit that I was terrified even by the old games like the original Alone in the Dark with its polygonal gargoyles. Hell, I'd get stressed out playing The 7th Guest and Myst and those aren't even horror games, haha! I'm just tightly wound up in that manner.

My partner is a major horror movie fan and he's big on survival horror games. Before any of you can attempt to quip that this is evidence that "opposites attract" or something like that, let's get back to topic.

So my partner has been doing his part in introducing me to things that he loves, including all the horror stuff. I can only really watch these kinds of movies with him around and as for games, well, I'm content watching him play. And he's a major Silent Hill fan, so the chances of me being introduced to this movie were inevitable.

[Games] LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (PS2)

Sometimes a game concept comes along that just totally works and it becomes hard to imagine how one could possibly screw things up. And yet time and time again, game developers will do exactly that and come up with sequels that totally fail, which is probably why sequels, even for video games, rarely get rave reviews.

Then there are the exceptions to this rule of sorts that make everything so worth it - games that allow us to continue to enjoy what makes a game great with the addition of a few additional tweaks that work with the existing game instead of against it.

One can only wish that more game developers manage to achieve that with their games.

LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy is the sequel to LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game and it continues the brick-building fun of its predecessor while still playing around the Star Wars universe. While the first game dealt with the three prequel movies, this second game immerses the player in the fun experience of the original movies with a whole lot of fun.

Image by Official Star Wars Blog via Flickr

The game manages to maintain its quirk sense of humor in how it re-tells the Star Wars saga using LEGO bricks and minifigs with its largely wordless cut sequences and surprisingly humorous facial expressions given the limited appearance of the common minifig. It manages to cover most of the original story while glossing over the bits that don't have as much dialog or action through the creative use of cut scenes.

Still relying on the character-based skill / ability system introduced in the first game, this sequel adds to that by adding more sort of job or class related skills for Stormtroopers and Bounty Hunters and even tweaking certain aspect of the game like making sure any character can build things and not just Jedi.

There are an insane number of secrets and unlockables that will force any gamer to re-play levels over and over again if only to assemble the various bonus display items that act as "rewards" for fully completing a stage in terms of all hidden items. Plus there are all those bonus sequences that make the game more fun such as making characters dance inside Jabba the Hutt's Sail Barge. Yeah, it's all part of the LEGO Star Wars humor.

While many may find the game highly repetitive, I enjoy the nature of the game and the real diversity of it all, which lies in the puzzles. There were sequences that were a lot harder this time around, especially since both the Story and Free Play modes have bit goals that you need to achieve in order to truly clear the stage and get all bonus blocks needed.

LEGO Star Wars II: The Original trilogy is a great way to add on to an existing franchise without seeming overly tacky. It deserves a full 5 LEGO Death Stars out of 5.

[Games] LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game (PS2)

Like most other geeks, I've always been a big fan of LEGO - you know, those little blocks that connect together for form anything from oil tankers to space ships. It seems a geek requirement to fully understand what exactly a minifig is, and that's just part of the role LEGO plays in our geek lives today.

On the other hand there's science fiction series like Star Wars, that many geeks are devoted to as well given the epic storytelling, the compelling characters and the role the movies played in our childhood. Let's face it, Star Wars is something that you'll never forget.

Now combining the two together could have turned out in any number of ways, some amazingly good and others horrendously wrong. I was of mixed feelings the first time they announced a game joining the two series given past toy-based games that have forever scarred us such as the Hot Wheels / Micro Machines racing games and the countless installments of Barbie-based adventure games and what have you. Thankfully, this game turned out a heck of a lot better.

LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game marks the first digital venture of the LEGO franchise paired with other properties that they've started to tie-up with. It seems fitting enough that they started with LEGO, which also marked their first tie-up of this nature for the actual LEGO play sets and model kits.

The premise of the game is simple - following the storylines of the three Star Wars prequel films, you get to control a host of LEGO-style Star Wars characters as you guide them in their adventures to fully cover the movies they are based on. More than just a straight-forward story-based adventure game, it turns into more of a puzzle game where you need to perform various tasks in order to progress to the next part of the story.

At first I thought this was going to be some ridiculously childish game but when the initial reviews started to come out and videos of the gameplay were released, I immediately got curious and was anxious to try it out. I definitely didn't regret that decision and found myself hooked on the game and determined to finish it once I started.

Image by hummingcrow via Flickr

The key strength of the series is the need to employ the unique skills of each of the characters in order to solve the puzzles and get to the next stage. For example, only certain characters can use grappling hooks to get to higher ledges and only Jedis can control the light side of the force to move aside certain obstacles. Even annoying characters like Jar Jar Binks becomes highly important given his higher jump ability compared to other characters. Given this unique mix of skills and abilities, the game ends up feeling a lot like the old game The Lost Vikings, which was also dependent on the player using three characters with specialized abilities.

Next definitely has to be the diversity of the gameplay options. Most missions try to follow the movies in the usual manner using character-driven sequences and puzzles that involve multiple configurations. Beyond that, there are also special missions involving the unique Star Wars vehicles and these can be anything from pod racing to epic space battles with key mission objectives. The designers did really well in making sure that game remained fresh and viable no matter how long you play.

Plus there are all the unlockables, secrets and bonuses that give players lots of things to strive for. There's the basic goal to collect as many different character types as possible in order to gain access to their skills and abilities in Free Play mode or even just collecting enough of the special blocks to form larger-scale models of popular vehicles that remain as part of your collection to be viewed at your leisure.

This game was just incredibly fun and even better played cooperatively together with a friend. It's definitely something I'd recommend to any geek, especially if you're a fan of either the LEGO franchise or the Star Wars films.

LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game gets 5 minifigs out of a possible 5.

[Games] Katamari Damacy (PS2)

The Japanese are notorious for some pretty bizarre concepts, hence the world's fascination with the kinds of game shows they come up with or the things they end up singing or writing about. It has certainly made for a very unique culture that's totally different from the rest of the global community, and wonderfully so.

I'm totally into Japan in a big way, and I suppose most other geeks tend to at least develop an appreciation if not outright love of their quirky culture. Every now and then there are certain cultural icons that just somehow best embody or personify Japanese identity in terms of their bold creativity, and one of the best venues for that has always been game development.

After the longest time of wanting to try it out, I finally got to play Katamari Damacy on the PlayStation 2. I know the game is rather dated by now, but it's still a really enjoyable game that anyone can pick up if they so desire.

The story is simple enough. Apparently one drunken night, the King of All Cosmos accidentally destroys all the stars and celestial bodies. Thus it becomes the mission of his son, the Prince (more or less you) to undo the damage. To aid you in your quest, you're given a Katamari, which is pretty much a highly adhesive ball that you use to "roll up" objects in order to make your Katamari even bigger. This goes on until you've made it big enough to replace one of the missing stars or whatever.

Okay, so maybe "simple" isn't the best term for it, but it doesn't mean that it's not a great game.

The game is amazing for its simplicity and addictiveness - who would have thought that rolling objects into giant balls would be so fun? I guess there's just something about the rush you feel when you get your Katamari to be big enough to capture your first cat, cow or oil tanker.

Image by gin_e via Flickr

The game isn't even just about how complex it is (which it isn't) - you can probably finish all the stages in a day if you really work on it. But the fun doesn't end there. The game is highly replayable and you'll find yourself wanting to try to make larger and larger Katamari's as fast as possible in order to beat your old scores to to try and find all the game secrets such as presents from the King or even your fellow royal cousins.

Plus the whole experience is rounded out by the highly original and addictive music that plays in the background. For the most part, the game sticks to one central theme with so many variations. Add in the highly unusual setting of the game and the very surreal and often illogical dialog and imagery and you get one amazing mind trip of a game.

I fully understand now why Katamari has developed such a global following and how it's triggered so many sequels. Now I need to go and try to find myself a working copy of We Love Katamari so I can play that one too, haha.

[Gadgets] Hi-Tech TV at the Kitchen

My mom loves watching those telenovelas (TV soap shows) being shown on ABS-CBN. She watches them all time, although she had to contend with (1) the kitchen chores, and with five males in the house, kitchen chores can be a mountain pile; (2) five males who would either want to watch anime or movies; (3) or me who wants to watch the news or play PS2 or GameCube. But having invested in three TVs (back in the late 90s, though the latest one was a hands-me-down by an uncle), numbers 2 and 3 are no longer in contention. It is the first that competes with her TV time.

If there's one thing that I would get for my mom (and if I have the money, of course), this would be it:



It features

an 8.5-inch widescreen LCD display and can play audio and video from an iPod, DVD, (S)VCD, MP3-CD, CD(RW) and Picture CD. The system also offers a built-in ATSC/NTSC TV tuner, digital AM/FM tuner, two 2-inch speakers, cooking timer and clock, and wireless remote.

With the features like that, I might end up using it, and relegate the old TV to the kitchen, he he.

[Via Engadget and Ubergizmo]