The Silent Hill Games

Last post I talked about the Silent Hill movies; I think is fare to give the same treatment to the video games, like I have said before; the Silent Hill franchise has made such a powerful impact in the genera that anybody who plays video games can tell you he has at least heard of them.

The games have a very dedicated fan base and with how rich in story and lore the series is, it deserves much attention has it´s in my opinion, the one franchise that is still trying to do right for horror games and understand it´s roots even if it´s hand many stumbles along the way...

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Silent Hill (now called by many people Silent Hill 1) is the first entry in the series; it´s interesting to know that at first the game was meant to be some sort of first person shooter with aliens from what little was reveled, but in time, Konami slowly lost interest in the project and thus let the team pretty much on their own; this gave the team almost free ways on how to proceed with the development and almost full creative freedom. The game was lunched and even if it didn't quite match the results of other sells at the time put it catches the attention of critics and player because it wasn't just something they haven´t seen before but also because of the unique setting and atmosphere of the game... the idea of a hunted town is not really new, but in game form it really was not something that at the time was made, it maybe was imagined but Silent Hill mastered it.

The story of Silent Hill fallows Harry Mason, a widow father who is heading to the town along with his daughter Cheryl; of course things go wrong after a car crash and Cheryl goes missing and so Harry´s quest to rescue his daughter is on. One thing I feel is important to bring up is that in games we are a costume to save damsels is distress (princesses, kidnaped girlfriends, etc...) but here, Harry is trying to find his daughter, I think that is a very powerful motivator; even if Cheryl´s character is not really developed, the fact that Harry and Cheryl are father and daughter is already a powerful bond... Harry himself is going trough hell itself to save his little girl; that is kinda touching (considering how crude the story itself is). There is of course more going on in the story, we learn why the town is possessed, why is Cheryl needed, we learn about Alessa Gillespie and her tragic story.

Silent Hill 2 lunched on the Play Station 2, taking advantage of the back then "nex-gen" console and made the "sequel" that blew the minds of critics and gamers alike. The story this time fallows a new protagonist named James Sunderland, who (just like Harry) lost his wife to a decease, but got a letter from her to meet him at their "special place" in Silent Hill. Silent Hill 2 does not fallow the story of the first, it fact, it docent even have anything to do with it... is a whole different story that holds it´s own, in fact this game started a trend many Silent Hill fans are now aware of, the two timelines or sides of the Silent Hill mythos (witch I will touch upon later).

I hate to say this but, has good and polished has Silent Hill 2 is, I find it to be a very overrated game... Allow me to elaborate; on it´s own is a really good game: it´s scary, it has interesting art in terms of the world itself (is much more different than the art in first game) and the story is very good... but here is my particular problem; I don´t feel like anything really blows my mind in any way at all; I have replayed many times this game and I still find myself enjoying it, but I am just not enraptured by everything the game does... and maybe is because the characters and story in general aren´t really that amazing to me, it´s a men trying to figure out his wife´s death... I don´t know but to me is not a quest has touching has say a father trying to save his daughter from a fate worst than death. It´s just a personal opinion; but in overall I do believe is a really good game and it did inspire many future developers that came abroad on this series to be like it by trying to have a story that does feel like it´s trying to challenge players with something new (even if it back fires most of the time) thus helping to expand the universe of the franchise.

Silent Hill 3 is the next game that lunched after the success of it´s predecessor and I don´t just think this is better than Silent Hill 2; it´s one of the best survival horrors ever made... It´s almost the perfect balance of horror, survival, action, exploration, puzzle and fear factor that make every great game in this category. Silent Hill 3 went trough a very complicated development process, the team wanted to focus on making a terrifying game but at the same time something that could bring closure to the story of the first entry has well has making a female protagonist for the game in the game; there is many different concepts for Heather made, but the devs were convinced that she had to be "regular and casual looking", so they asked for the opinion of the woman of the team and the it was the girls who gave to Heather that classic look we all know.

In this story, it continues and brings closure to the story that began in Silent Hill 1; we now fallow Heather Mason, Harry´s daughter almost 17 years after the events from the first game, has she is being hunted by her past and wants to claim her... what´s great about this is that is not some metaphor in the storyline, her past is actually hunting her down. At the end of Silent Hill 1, it is reveled that Cheryl is actually a part of Alessa, a part of her that she herself split to avoid her mother from using her to give birth to the cult´s "god"; Harry managed to stop the cult from using Alessa and saving her at the same time, has she was in her dying breath, she was reborn has a baby and Harry adopted her... I like pretty much everything about the story, I am constantly finding myself thinking deeply about it because even the main villain is interesting having a very well rounded backstory that mixes nicely with the story that the game is trying to tell, the documents reveal very interesting story elements that almost make everything feel genuine, but the real catalyst of the story is Heather herself... getting the protagonist right is so important that that it makes the character we are following feel that more relatable; there is something about her that make her a great female protagonist in the genera, it´s maybe because she feels more real has a young woman fighting for her life, her personality, backstory and motivators feel genuine has does her personality; she is a teenager, so she can get angry, frustrated, scared, but she also has a genuine fun side has she can also be sarcastic. Heather also is the reincarnation of Alessa and struggling with her dark side is intriguing, has Alessa was tortured she contemplates suicide and to just end her life... but her new self, Heather wants to live; this is one boss battle in the game that it´s basically telling this metaphor: for Heather, that boss fight is a psychological battle. I also like it´s ending has is a fitting conclusion to this story and finally brings closure to it, thus it does not need a sequel... Alessa´s story ends with this game.

Silent Hill 4: The Room is the last game made by Team Silent before they disbanded... but they left with an excellent entry in the franchise; this game came pretty close to being my actual favorite of the series, it has everything going for it (story, characters, atmosphere, fear factor, etc...) but I´ll explain later why it falls short. The development process for this game was interesting, originally the game was not meant to be a Silent Hill game, but the developers thought that the game they were making function has one and decided to make it a part of their series.

Like Silent Hill 2; Silent Hill 4 approaches to the franchise being it´s own self contained story with a new protagonist, circumstances and characters. The story takes place not in Silent Hill but in a town near the hunted town, the only location is the apartment residence where Henry (Silent Hill 4´s protagonist) lives, the Ashfield Heights Apartments... he one day wakes up to find himself locked in his own apartment and there is no visible way out except for a strange whole on the bathroom wall that takes him to the twisted world of Silent Hill; from there is a race against time to figure out what is the mystery behind this bizarre incarceration; what´s great about the story is much what made Silent Hill 3 amazing, all the little details show the larger picture by recreating the events that lead to the motivation of the villain, the mystery behind the incidents in the apartments, the murders and the previous Silent Hill games are smartly connected here. The villain is a man called Walter Sullivan, who is mentioned in a magazine in Silent Hill 2 has a man who murdered many people before killing himself, this story is expanded upon in Silent Hill 4 has Henry in basically chased by Walter to become part of a ritual to turn the room where he lives into a maternal whom. Walter is totally convinced that his mother is the room where Henry lives... ever since he was a little boy he was brain washed by the cultists of The Order to believe this; it´s sick, but for this villain after you see the full story, it comes full circle and much like Silent Hill 3, is very though provoking because of it´s depth in story and lore. Sadly it falls short because of the technical problems; like some very funny sound effects, combat is sloppy (even more than is SH2 and SH3) and artistically is not really impressive but I still find it an amazing game that gives a lot, is close yet slightly far from being the best for me, but it´s deep and philosophical story is smart, creative and just all around amazing.

The other big entry can be debated... but I am thinking that another important addition is Silent Hill: Origins (known has Silent Hill Zero in Japan), The story fallows a man called Travis has he stubble upon the town and meets Alessa when she is being burn in the ritual by the cult and her mother, but Travis saves and and from there is... well, kinda of a mess; it tries to tell the story of how Alessa became the main catalyst of the towns possession but instead they try to give Travis this dumb backstory about his mother being dead and his father killing himself or something? Why try to flesh out the main character like this? Why can´t he just be a regular guy who happen to come across the town at the wrong time? all because they feel they need to at a tragic back story to every protagonist just because Silent Hill 2 did it and it worked; the story of origins was just clumsily executed, like they didm´t gave the story much though... but to be fare I do think is a good game and a solid entry in the series has it gives full circle to the story of Alessa... being (so far) the last of this particular tale it pretty much makes a trilogy, composed of Silent Hill Origins, Silent Hill 1 and Silent Hill 3, thus making the story feel like it has come full circle... almost.

Silent Hill Homecoming is pretty much in the wonderful world of "fan service" witch is just dumb... The story fallows Alex Shepard, a young man who is coming back to his hometown only to find out that not only it is posses by the mysterious forces of Silent Hill, but also his brother and father are missing, so finding them becomes his main goal. Although not awful by any means I have to say this one does feel like the worst, the general story is very... well "meh",is very basic, cliched and lacks the interesting depth that made the first 4 games great and makes it even more painful by trying to tie in the first game; Why? Is it really necessary? What is it adding to the story you are trying to tell? WHY IS PYRAMID HEAD IN THIS GAME????. Is much more action oriented, almost like they were trying to make a blockbuster action game... but overall I find it a good game; the world does feel like Silent Hill, the combat is actually fun (I dare say is the best combat system in the whole franchise). Homecoming is not a horrible game... just not a good Silent Hill game...

Silent Hill Downpour is the latest entry in the series and to be fair, is pretty good (At least compared to Homecoming). Murphy is a prisoner who is being translated into a new detention area when suddenly he ends trapped in Silent Hill after his bus crashes while passing through the foggy town (sound familiar?), from there is trade mark Silent Hill story line: character has a trauma, he must face it, he encounters many different people in the town, faces his own demons and ultimately he must face his own fears... without spoiling much is harmless. I must say that to it´s credit it does not bring itself to be "fan serviceable" where unlike in Homecoming we got a cameo from Pyramid Head here we get no such thing, it tries to bring it´s own originality and it does came up with some interesting designs for monsters (though most are pretty generic). But this one has his place has a solid entry in the series IMO.

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Silent Hill has two separate branches or series. The first is composed of Origins, 1 and 3; these are the stories about how the town became cursed, we learn about "The Order" the dark cult that practices evil rituals and the story of Alessa Gillespie the one who served has the main catalyst for the possession of the town and the central focus in all three games; since it´s all about her fears, her suffering and her demons... I like to look at this 3 games has a trilogy and I call it "The Alessa Gillespie Tragedy" and in my opinion should be left alone has it is, no more continuations or prequels; maybe a few references now and then... but that´s it; this one is great has it is.

The other branch is the one that can be called the "common" stories or self contained: Silent Hill 2, 4, Homecoming and Downpour enter in this side, has they are self contained stories that have nothing to do with Alessa, The Order or the Mason´s (or at least not directly). The general view of this particular side is that it´s all about the characters themselves; their inner demons, their traumas, their evil deeds... This is the one side that most will feel familiar with and think of when they talk about Silent Hill has it´s much more personal and relatable because it´s pretty much normal people with their own fears and insecurities that the town manifests has physical entities and try to kill or break the will of the characters, is all about a survival struggle... both physical and psychological.

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Rumors say that the next game could be made in Japan with some of the crew members of Team Silent along side with Hideo Kojima and using the new FOX engine (the same used for Metal Gear Solid V); I think it would be great to see a new Silent Hill game made by the same team who made the first 4 and hopefully be has good... There are more games in the series that I could mention, but I would be dwelling and really just digging more than necessary, I basically wanted to talk about the main entries and I did. In general the franchise has some solid entries in and hopefully in the future we can see even better games...

The Silent Hill Movies

When it comes to talking about meaningful survival horrors out there, Silent Hill is one of the most respected franchise in that pantheon.

For does who don´t know, Silent Hill is (in the world of the games) a cursed town, a place where any person who steps foot in the place will live their worst fears, the town will know what are their worst nightmares are and will put them all in front of them. If the person is weak, is scared or don´t know what to do will be trapped in the town until he or she does what the town wants and that sometimes results in them going mad... on the flip side if the person is strong enough to overcome their fears, they won´t just walk away with their lives but also has a much better person.

The monsters the protagonist of the games find in their trek through the town are manifestations of their fears and insecurities, and this monsters will try to kill them, so it´s not only their pretense but also their capacity to kill what ultimately makes the town an actual ride through hell; their lives are in actual danger while they are there...

Now that I have given you a general idea of the games, let´s talk about the movies based on this games.

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The director behind the first film is not some director for hire they got, Christophe Gans is a fan of the video game series and before the movie, he was on a ongoing attempt to earn the rights to make a movie; so it feels great to know that he finally got his opportunity. For the most part the first movie is actually good... it´s far from being a great movie, but I can see a great deal of love and care that Gans put into making this movie.

The story fallows the plot of the first game; it introduces new elements my biggest complaint in this movie is the fact that they felt the need to replace the main character of Harry Mason for this "Rose Da Silva", and the reason is because the creators though that a father looking for his daughter was not has powerful has a mother looking for her daughter... Why? Does a father has no right to love his daughter? Is it too painful to look? If it worked in the game, why change it for the movie? It´s a really dumb decision and I don´t get it. The explanation for why they kidnap the child is also different than in the game, but it kinda makes sense within the world of the movie, although I still think that the game worked it very well (maybe even better). For all my ranting it must look like I hate this movie but I actually don´t, in my opinion, it´s one of the best movie adaptations of a game out there; is not a masterpiece and I would´t call it a great movie, but is a good fun little movie that deceivers it´s credit where credit is due.

Silent Hill: Revelations is the sequel to the original movie and if you are a fan of the franchise and you hate the first movie than you are gonna be discussed by this film. The story tries to be an adaptation of the game Silent Hill 3 has well has a sequel to the movie; makes sense considering in the game series, Silent Hill 3 is a direct sequel to the original video game, by continuing the story and giving it a worthy conclusion to it´s story... that´s not the case with this movie. It´s a disaster from the start; there is no substance, no style, no passion and no overall effort... it feels like the story was written in one draft and they just went with it; the characters are uninteresting and just complete idiots has well has all the changes in the characters made from the game is almost insulting. The motivations of the movie don´t fell genuine and the acting is pretty weak...

I have to point out that I have a sour spot for this one because Silent Hill 3 is one of my favorite video games of all time; I love the story, the characters, the atmosphere, the lore and the game itself is terrifying. When I see this movie, I feel like it´s making fun of not only this entry in the series but also franchise and the intelligence of the audience... weather you are a fan of the franchise or just a casual viewer; this movie is a definite skip...

Usagi Drop Anime Review

It´s been a while since I saw an anime this touching and heart warming...

Daikichi is a man is his 30´s makes a life defining decision when he finds out that his deceased grandfather had a daughter; when no one in his family decides not to take the child in and take care of her he takes the initiative to look after Rin and raise her by himself; the rest of the anime is about the two trying to figure out how to balance their new lives. The strength in this story is definitely Daikichi and Rin´s relation; I no nothing about raising a child and that is why I find myself sympathizing with Daikichi has he tries to balance out his work and using his free time to figure out how to take care of the child he took in; Rin of course is a lovable child, she is supportive, happy and just a kind little girl, I can´t think of anybody who would hate her, she is just one of the best kids I´ve seen not only in anime but is story media in general.

Rin is of course the emotional center of the story and seeing her and Daikichi working out their relationship and trying to figure out what to do is one of the most heart warming moments in the whole series, and is very rewarding to see them work it out. One downside I see in this anime is maybe the some of the side characters, I don´t hate them; I just feel like maybe we should´t see much of them or they intrude too much in the story where they are not called, for example: there is one kid who is friends with Rin, he is a bit of a trouble maker in contrast to her, I am cool with him, in fact i think is kinda cute... the problem is that he always seems to find a way into the story with no reason other than just maybe interrupting a moment where Daikichi and Rin are either working something out or having a time to see their relationship. Why not just have him show up in a different situation? Why is he so frequently showing up? What is he adding to the scene? I don´t know... to me it sticks out like a sour thumb...

The art direction is also great, with a water color painting style that gives the anime a different feel than other anime series and movies out there has well has the contrast made on the characters to not make it stick out from the background colors, it´s an interesting perspective I would like to see more in anime.

Although it has very minor problems I have little to complain about really, maybe I was being nitpicking when I pointed them out, but that´s how I really felt when watching it; I really liked this anime and I recommend it to anybody who is looking for something warm for the heart and soul... it´s a very adorable anime I may revisit in the future.

The Twilight Saga Review

Love it or hate it, the Twilight Franchise has made a certain impact on the public, however I feel that is important to note the way the series has taken the teenage female demographic and it managed to make a "story" (if you can call it that) out of the dreams of young girls.

I can´t speak for the book readers,  but I have watched the movies and, believe it or not, I can fine some positives but are far from redeeming the story...

Twilight is the first movie that came after the success of the series and book sell; so naturally Hollywood knew they could milk this series with a blockbuster film... and of course it happened.

Twilight the movie is the absolute worst of the series in my opinion... it´s boring; that is the worst crime a movie can commit and this one succeeded in spades. I can´t remember the story at all, but you know it I am sure, a girls falls in love with a guy and turns out he was a vampire; aside from the boring characters, lifeless acting, uninteresting scenarios and just overall stupid story; I can´t help but notice how dull the cinematography is... the lighting is horrible, the overall movie is very dark and uninspiring, almost like the people in charge of the cinematography didm´t care one bit. This is a really bad movie folks; it´s up there with some of the worst I have ever seen and I hope to never have to see it again...

New Moon is the second and is the best (though not by much), the reason why this movie is the superior in my opinion is simply because is the least boring, surprisingly is entertaining at the very least, however that does not make it a good movie, it´s still pretty bad. What does Bella see is Edward when the most human, humble and kind is Jacob? Why does Edward care so much for Bella? If he has lived for so long, why he fixes his eyes on that dumb brad?. At least is not painfully boring, I give it that... but it´s still a really dumb movie. This is the one I tolerated the most.










Eclipse is the third movie... and to it´s very little credit, it feels like the movie makers did attempted to make a good movie out of this one, but the core of the story it´s still very flawed and dumb making it forgettable... I mean, it´s Stephanie Mayer, you can´t save it. There is very little that can improve the story from the first two,  other than the war that started up because of Bella and the movie itself does try to dig deeper into the universe itself by seeing the different factions and their stories, but again, the core is the situation between Bella, Edward and Jacob (witch is very boring and dumb). I can tell there was an effort for making it actually good, but it´s very far from being good when the main story is very bad.

Breaking Dawn Parts 1 and 2 is the final chapter where the "story" wraps up and because it´s such a powerful story with rich characters we need two part for the final of the series, right? It´s got nothing to do with squeezing more from the fangirls, correct?... part one feels like it goes overly long, many scenes feel like are going nowhere and the situation drags to the point is boring, thankfully there is enough stupidity to keep me laughing for the lasting of the movie. Finally part two we see Bella has a vampire and having her baby with Edward and the final battle where everything is epic and stuff only to have the ending being "it was a dream" crap; but what boiled my blood in this movie was the foreshadowing that Jacob has where he sees he will fall in love with Bella´s daughter... that is one of the must dumb and irritating things I have ever seen in a movie before, how can Jacob look at that baby and say "I´m gonna bang that someday"? Why show it if it´s not important? What does it add that is for value in the story? How can Jacob know he will fall in love with that baby when she turns in an adult? It´s so dumb that it makes my head hurt... regardless that is the final movie in the Twilight saga.

I really doubt that Stephanie Mayer knows what she has created, now I respect the artistic creativity of people and maybe she knows what her target audience is and what it´s trying to tell; maybe Mayer wasn't trying to be anything more other than a "dumb melodramatic tween tale". I don´t hate anybody that likes this movies, I have watched them trying to find what is it that can capture it´s audience in such passion; I don´t know if it´s the attractive of the men, the love story, the vampire/werewolf concept or what... but maybe is just that it knows how to make the teen girls see their fantasies, has Bella is a blank slate, her character is so bland that she is basically a husk where girls can see themselves on her and that way see the movies in a new light, of course is a horrible fantasia for girls where they see all their problems vanish by a handsome attractive men who can save them every time...

It´s evident that Twilight has left a mark in the world for being a very impact full franchise in the life of teen girls in this generation, but I am sure that one day they will grow up and see Twilight has it is; a fantasy tale with unlikely scenarios... maybe they will just see it has a way of entertainment the same way we see at a stupid you tube video. Who knows what the future hold for this franchise... (hopefully it is only remembered has... well... nothing).

Child of Light Game Review

In this age of gaming, it's been a while since I have played something has charming, creative and pure has Child of Light.

The story is about a little girl named Aurora, who wakes up in a unknown land called Lemuria, and is now on a journey to go back to her father; her trek takes her to many different locals that breath with atmosphere, mostly thanks to all the excellent hand drawn scenarios. The characters are also memorable, if you can't get into their personalities you can at least appreciate their design and esthetic, but their characters I remember being very likable too; but I can understand if some find themselves being dragged back because of the "kinda forced" rhymes.

Child of Light a few short coming, like I wish the game was a little bit longer; being the world of Lemuria much bigger, I found myself engaged with the combat, the charming innocent story, the excellent backgrounds and the memorable characters; this game is a pure love latter to every fan of good RPG's in general.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Review

This movie is so cliched that it´s disappointing...

The story while not exactly bad, the problem is that their clichés makes it all very predictable; I pretty much knew what was going to happen before it happened, the human characters were boring; especially the main character who was no more than a blank slate for the viewer to reflect on and say "yeah, that´s me doing that". The plot points in general are the victims of the cliches the movie fallow, and is easy to perceive that if you are not a general movie goer.

The cgi on the apes is amazing however, they almost look like they really got actual apes to play the roles, but the rotoscope is very well done and the animator did a great job with the modeling and digitalization of the faces. I give credit where credit is due, I just wish the characters and story would have been much better...

Dragon Age 2 Game Review

Sometime we have different perception of what a sequel should be and thus it damages it´s quality in our eyes has audiences or players... I feel that is what happened with "Dragon Age 2".

The game is set in the city of Kirkwall and you play has a runner from the blight in Ferelden (The events of Dragon Age Origins) and you are trying to survive in a new land along with your family. The story it self adds plenty to the lore and universe of dragon age, you learn about many societies, species, their culture, religion and much more; you even learn more about the tension between the mages and the templars. Even if the story-line itself is a little less interesting, the world of Thedas is still very immersive.

The gameplay also is slightly different,  being a little more action oriented and less tactical, though on harder settings you will find yourself trying to be more tactical, even on normal settings I had to ones in a while but it still results in a very challenging game, making you think very carefully on what is the best approach to be more efficient in combat and you selection of companions.

I feel like Dragon Age 2 is a misunderstood sequel, I think it´s more about the characters struggles and learning more about the universe; even if it fails on being a sequel it´s a good entry in the series and one I am glad I played despite it´s many flaws. Dragon Age 2 is a good game and deserves to be played by any RPG fan.

Ghost in the Shell Review

The movie that inspired "The Matrix"... nuff said...

Similar to the story in the manga, Major Matoko is on the mission to capture a cyber terrorist in a future where some humans are more robots than people, thus endangering the whole world. With a strong script, memorable characters and great animation and designs; Ghost in the Shell is not just one of the best anime movies ever made but one of the best sci-fy movies of all time because of how smart everything is handled, from the directing to the writing and the animation quality; it all goes well in perfect harmony.

To me, is one of those movies you must watch before you die, even if you don´t like it... there is a chance that you will find something you will remember. It´s a must see definitely.

The Elephant´s Foot

Ladies and gentlemen:

I introduce you to the "Elephant´s Foot"

The truth is that this is a lava like component called "Corium" accumulated in a molten mass... it´s originated by a tragic accident that occurred in Chernobyl, Ukraine; it is highly radioactive and is extremely lethal, to the point that no form of life can survive in it´s surroundings for only a few hours (and that is waring protection). Without a doubt the most dangerous object in the world...

click here to read more about this deadly material

If you speak spanish, check out this video made by DrossRotzank

Metroid Prime Trilogy Game Review

Just one of the best collections you can ever have for your Wii all in one disk...

Metroid Prime (the first one) fallows Samus Aran, has she adventures into the planet Talon 4 and discover what the space pirates are up to. The story is very simple and doesn't really tries to be very overly analytic or abstract, is straight forward and simple. The strength of this game comes in its structure and creative world that begs to be explored; the feel of empowerment every time you find a new power and the possibilities that come with it; the way you feel how the stronger enemies are now much weaker when you get new gadgets and use them. The art direction is fantastic, the gameplay is fantastic FPS exploration and discovery. It´s one of the best and most influential video games of all time

Prime 2 continues the story this time taking Samus into the planet of Agiss VII and what started has a simple investigation turned into a battle between light and darkness. This one is in my opinion the weakest of the three, though still a great game, I find it weak in comparison... The ammunition system for the dark and light ammo is really limiting the possibilities of experimentation and enjoyment, not to mention the world you explore is very interesting. I still find it to be an amazing game and I can understand if there is people out there that like this game for all the good it has, I think the character models and animations are much better and the textures look great too. It´s a excellent game worthy of a playthrough.

Prime 3 is the last game of the series; this time Samus is making the last stand agaist the Phazon threat and is putting an end to the conflict. This entry is almost better than the first Prime but it misses by a tiny hire... You explore various planets with their own esthetic and flora, not to mention the worlds are immersive backed up by the great music. The wii controls were introduced first in this game prior to the lunch of the trilogy collection (in the collection, both prime 1 and 2 uses the same style introduced here) and after playing with does you quickly get a grip of it and love it more than the dual analog commonly found in most console games of now. Prime 3 is almost better than the first, but the problem is that pretty much everything that prime 3 does, prime 1 did it first already, but it´s still one hell of a game.

Metroid Prime Trilogy is just an amazing collection for fans of the franchise and for players who want something unique and great... if you have the chance to pick it up, then by all means don´t hold back because it is one of the greatest games ever made...

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I apologize for the long time I didm´t made any post, but believe me, I have not stop working on my project, very soon I will share with you all something much more complete and presentable.

Stay tuned!

Terminator 2: Judgement Day Review

Amazing movie!

I refuse to talk about the story for the sake of keeping you who have not seen this movie from spoilers; many of us are used to watch action movies where the stories are a second next to the thinking of the situations where the action moments happen, but with this movie the story and action moments go together in perfect harmony. The story is great, the characters are great, the action scenes are great and the music is great.

Terminator 2 is just a great movie and if you haven´t seen it, then what are you waiting for?
Go watch it right now!

I don´t say this lightly guys, but it´s one of the best Sci Fi movies of all time

The Star Wars Prequels

The star wars franchise is one of the most important and influential in the film industry, it wowed audiences all over the world with it´s visuals effect, lovable characters, great story lines and an epic battle between good and evil; there can be no denial that it´s creator George Lucas created a universe that in many ways we can all find something to relate with.

The original trilogy is flawless and the three films are just one of does movie one just need to see, if you haven´t then don´t waste any time and check them out; there is a reason one these three films are classics.

But what about the the prequel trilogy? The films that many say didm´t need to exist? Well it turns out that that backstory was thought by Lucas back when he was working on "The Empire Strikes Back"...

Lucas was reported saying that when wrote the first movie, he had such a wide story in his head that he had to take away many elements from it and knew he needed to make sequels to tell all the story he had in his mind; the main story he wanted to tell was lingering in his mind and knew that it´s scale was larger that we could imagine, that is the power of creativity and it´s encounter with reality that usually hurts the artist inside that is trying to show us that creation; reality prevents that creation to take the shape we see in our minds; but there is no denial Lucas made his creation and his world work his way into our minds.

After loosing a lot of his fortune in a divorce, Lucas said he was taking a break and did not came back working into star wars until much later, but said that he still wanted to see does new prequels made. Lucas began writing episode 1 on november 1st 1994 with his 15 page backstory written back when he did the original trilogy and used it has a tempo into who the characters were and how he was going to see the story unfold and connect with the original series (ep 4, 5 and 6)... His vision for the prequels got almost has much changes has his vision for the original movies, thus he made many re-writes and changes to the story to adapt the changes made, episodes 2 and 3 also got their own changes.

The reason I am saying all this is because I feel is important to understand the perspective of it´s creator before going any further into the details of each prequel, after all, an artist has a perception when he show us his work; many would argue that Lucas is now more of a business man and less of an artist, but regardless his intentions don´t look to me like "evil"... how ever there do is a whole lot of "bad" here.

"The Phantom Manace" was the later added title to episode 1, during production it´s working title was "The Beginning" (just a small detail); this movie is the worst of the prequels without a doubt in my mind, and almost everybody seem to feel the same, although there are some ideas that click and work together with each other is just a very weak movie in general, the characters are very boring the worlds we see are not very interesting or fascinating to be honest and there is not much keeping you through the movie exempt the well choreographed light saber duels and the pod race is pretty intense; but it only manages to because the rest of the movie is so boring that is the only meaning of entertainment you can find, I don´t think many can find this movie very gripping by it´s storyline (which I can nearly remember to be honest). Bottom line, it feels like Lucas squeezed this movie in for the safe of saying "Hey is a new star wars trilogy!", this movie is a skip in my opinion.

"Attack of the Clones" is the second movie in the prequel series, fallowing the big disappointment that was episode 1; there must have been little hope from fans that it actually made much less in box office that "The Phantom Menace" made... to be fair "Attack of the Clones" is a much better movie than it´s predecesor, in general it feels like the story is actually going somewhere, the characters are average (at least you won´t hate them), and the visuals are of course great; the romance between Anakin and Padme is very superficial, is hard to be invested in them when their conversations don´t really carry much humanity or passion, truth is that I don´t think anybody would believe that they are really in love, and that´s a big problem because they are supposed to be the bulk of the story. Thankfully the movie in general is bearable, the Battle of Geonosis is in my opinion very good, although you won´t care for any of the casualties of clones or droids, considering they are both expendable correct? Is an ok movie, check it out if you want something light hearted.

"Revenge of the Sith" is the good one, definitely the best of the whole prequel trilogy and I honestly believe that this is the one film George Lucas wanted to get to, almost like this movie was the one where he put the majority of his thought and effort into actually make it a good movie; all the moments in the movie feel like they carry with it the spirit of the franchise, the opening shows how large the scale of the Clone Wars actually is, almost like in the opening of "A New Hope" we see the opening shows us how small the rebels are and how large the empire is. The characters are actual human beings in this movie, I believe that Anakin and Obi-Wan are really good friends, I believe that Anakin and Padme are in love and I do care about them when they talk about what they are going to do about Padme´s pregnancy, the danger that emperor Palpatine represents for the jedis and the galaxy in general and the final light saber battle between Obi-Wan and Darth Vader... all the scenes felt important. "Revenge of the Sith" really feels like a true well made prequel to the masterful original trilogy that fans were promised, is almost like Lucas had one strike with "The Phantom Menace", one faul with "Attack of the Clones" and suddenly a home run with "Revenge of the Sith". There are awkward moments in this movie like the balcony conversation between Anakin and Padme (What´s up with that? rly...), and some of the dialogues are very dumb, the acting is also stiff; It´s funny how come that so many people blame Hayden Christiansen for being a bad actor, like everybody in this movie was being flawless except him, nobody gave a good performance in this movie. But I am honest when I say "Revenge of the Sith" is a very good, solid movie that embodies the spirit of star wars; is not a great movie and it falls a little behind to the originals but it is a a well done movie...

I am not touching "The Clone Wars" tv series or the early 2003 "Clone Wars" series because they just don´t directly apply to the prequels that we were given has theatrical lunches, but I can say they are good little nuggets for star wars fans, although I can´t really recommend it for casual viewers who are not much into the franchise. There is a lot of expanded universe material in the star wars canon that I could co on forever if I touched it.

Love them or hate them, the prequels are here to stay; and has much has there is a lot of bad in them, at least we can try and understand that Lucas tried to showed us the full extent of his creative making and for that we can at least thank him; the original trilogy will always be the one and only star wars movies to always be remembered and to deserve your revisits time and time again, and the prequels we can say are here for does who want it. Star Wars is a powerful franchise that will go on till the end of time and who knows what the future generations will think of this movies, who knows, maybe they will see the prequels in a different light and maybe accept it has a true part of star wars... but I am certain that it will always live on in the hearts of people.

May the force be with you, always...

The Animation Judgement

There is a topic that I am afraid is not often seen, or talked about except among does interested in it; that is the way we look at animated media (movies, tv series); now I am pro-animation, in fact I fully support the world of animation no matter the form, from hand-drawn to 3D, flash and stop-motion I find a deep respect for the world of animation.

However there is a dark side to this story; by some who call themselves "professionals" classify animated movies has little more than child nonsense, even with classics like "Lion King", "Princess Mononoke", "Toy Story", the list goes on… so why is animation still not respected has it should.

I saw an article a good while ago and it talked about "Frozen" nominated for best animated film and winning with a significant gap; but that is not what got me, it was the judges comments and they were something like this:

"The only reason I give my vote to Frozen is because it´s the only movie I saw from that classification"

"I saw this movie with my kids and they liked it…"

"I didn´t saw ANY of this movies, I choose Frozen because it´s the one most people have seen"

There were more comments like this; It´s possible that this people have never seen adult animation movies, but has professionals of the medium they should be more respectful of the general movies they watch even if they are for kids. This isn´t just an issue one sees with some movie critics, but also with common audiences; I have talked with people who won´t watch anything animation related because is to "childish" and when I try to recommend movies that are for mature audiences they outright refuse to watch by the count of the fact that they are animated… I say this because has someone who has worked in animation and respect the style It hurts when people refuse to open their eyes to new perspectives.

I know there are people who love animation, enjoy and admire the grace that comes with it along with the admiration for it´s stories (when they are good), but the general audiences still sees animation has a genera and not has a style of story telling; this kind of perspective is associated with the fact that our society classifies animated movies, series, etc… has for children and granted, most are; but then they turn a blind eye of mature animated content.

I repeat; I am aware that there is people who do give care for the animation industry; but the problem is that the people that we see giving the big prizes, that teaches us about the media and general public care nothing for the style and refuse to see animation has what it is, a method of storytelling…

Maybe one day, animation will find it´s way into the acceptance of the audiences has more than just a mer thing for kids and eventually open their eyes, until then, animation will have to bear with the pushes from people.