5 years after the game was released, I finally bought it. $10, including s/h. =)
I decided against Sins of a Solar Empire, which is much newer and produced by IronClad with StarDock, both of which I have a lot of respect for. I was very tempted to go with SOS just to support them. So why didn't I?
Homeworld2, much like Homeworld, has awesome graphics. Not as good as EVE Online (in terms of ship detail and scale), but the scenery is excellent (although highly unbelievable), the ship ion trails are great, the action is lively - that was one thing I really missed in SOS, as it was very hard to track ships while riding piggy-back, which I do a lot. While I enjoy the planetary aspect of SOS (and the more diverse tech tree), Homeworld focuses on being a space game.
My one biggest pet peeve with Homeworld, and my one major reason for not giving it two thumbs up, is that the different races have exactly the same ships!! What the heck!?! And it pisses me off that after thousands of years and I don't know many eons, I still have to research basic things like "advanced torpedoes". That is just plain stupid. I wished the game would doing something a little more realistic; the idea of capturing and acquiring Mover technology is a step in the right direction, and there should be much more focus on that. And what about those stupid Bentusi? "All-wise"? I love the high-tech nature of their background (pacifist dogs), but they are just plain naive.
Due to the fact that both the races have more or less exactly the same tech tree and ships, the "player vs cpu" option is just about pointless. I used it to get me ready for the singler-player. That is one good thing about Homeworld - the single-player campaign is very well developed. SOS has no single-player. At least the SOS player vs. cpu is interesting enough. It was more built for online play, and at that I would have to venture it excells. But I am not an online player. Maybe some day...
Homeworld scores high in looks, sounds effects and musical score. Replay is practically shot. I like it, but I no longer love it.
And the battlecruisers just seem weak. I wanted them to have much more punch. I liked the heavy cruisers from the first one much better. The Infiltraor/Marine frigates are somewhat novel, but underplayed. And how do you "infiltrate" something like a hyperspace gateway with marines??
Guess I'll start looking around for the MODs already. =) I really like the Babylon5 mod for the first Homeworld (although I never played a version that was fully developed). And I never found a mod with a fully developed single-player campaign, either, which would be really cool.
19 January 2009
The Twilight Watch, by Sergei Lukyanenko
The last book of Lykyanenko's series is great! An excellent way to cap off some wonderfully entertaining, intelligent, witty, grisly, epic stories. Imagine how bummed I was when I heard that Timur Bekmambetov is putting off the movie productions because they are too similar to Wanted! What the heck is he thinking!?!? Too similar?!? Is Star Wars too similar to Star Trek? Is Barney too similar to The Wiggles? (Don't answer that last one)
Anyway, Sergei did an excellent job detailing a lot of the backstory. While not always intellectually satisfying (I think I found some loopholes), the explanation of "power" that is available to Others was intriguing. And the author just happened to hit that special nitch of anthropological discussion that was appropriate in a sci-fi setting; I personally find that thrilling. *grin* Call me weird. The movies and books are almost sold as horror/thriller flicks, but that is not the flavor you get after reading the books at all. Even the movie was not "horror" at all. Strange, maybe. Alien. But horror?
The ending was strange. One of the loopholes. We have one of the cast of characters who is suddenly elevated to "most supreme" status and everyone wants to take him down. Yet, he is young, therefore a little immature and inexperienced. Even so, given the what we have learned about Twilight Power, how is it even possible that "everyone" could become Others - the net potential of power would dip, no, rather landslide to a negative rating. No more power.... or maybe that is what they want? Another thing... the spell was supposed to work for everyone in the caster's line of vision? Regardless of many hundreds of miles away they were? Whatever... if that was so, than half the world would have been transformed already.
Anyway, great book, great series. Now I really want to see the movies! And I do not say that often about a book/movie deal. Get off your butt, Timur! *grin*
Anyway, Sergei did an excellent job detailing a lot of the backstory. While not always intellectually satisfying (I think I found some loopholes), the explanation of "power" that is available to Others was intriguing. And the author just happened to hit that special nitch of anthropological discussion that was appropriate in a sci-fi setting; I personally find that thrilling. *grin* Call me weird. The movies and books are almost sold as horror/thriller flicks, but that is not the flavor you get after reading the books at all. Even the movie was not "horror" at all. Strange, maybe. Alien. But horror?
The ending was strange. One of the loopholes. We have one of the cast of characters who is suddenly elevated to "most supreme" status and everyone wants to take him down. Yet, he is young, therefore a little immature and inexperienced. Even so, given the what we have learned about Twilight Power, how is it even possible that "everyone" could become Others - the net potential of power would dip, no, rather landslide to a negative rating. No more power.... or maybe that is what they want? Another thing... the spell was supposed to work for everyone in the caster's line of vision? Regardless of many hundreds of miles away they were? Whatever... if that was so, than half the world would have been transformed already.
Anyway, great book, great series. Now I really want to see the movies! And I do not say that often about a book/movie deal. Get off your butt, Timur! *grin*
The Night Watch, by Sergei Lukyanenko
After reading this book, I start to see how the movie relates. So, first off;
Lukyanenko wrote 3 books, in the following order: Night Watch, Day Watch, Twilight Watch. They are all part of the Night Watch series, and are sometimes called Night Watch, Night Watch II and Night Watch III. The movie that I saw (DayWatch) actually takes one small section from Night Watch, dealing with the Chalk of Fate (there are 3 books within each novel). I suspect the movie NightWatch, being a prequel to DayWatch, deals with the other 2 book the precede the Chalk of Fate in Night Watch. Yes, that was quite confusing to me as well. And there are still discrepancies between the movie and the book; ironically, having seen the movie, my mental images of Anton, Egor, Svetlana and the rest of the cast have been permanently affixed.
So, anyway, The Night Watch. I like the way Lukyanenko writes. While sometimes dull, the main character's introspection provides a lot of rich background to the story. I did not realize this when I read the book called Day Watch (all along I thought the book was related to the movie, but it is only slightly related). The idea of remoralization is rather interesting, and Lukyanenko starts to build a picture of a kind of "good vs evil" plot. But the "good" guys are not perfect, and the "evil" guys are not all bad. This makes the story seem a little more real, and little more believable. The magic system is a bit far-fetched, but I found it refreshingly so. The Twilight is a huge mystery, and it seems that even the most powerful folks do not fully understand it. I find the various players, their skill levels and individual personalities quite fascinating. In a way I am glad I saw the movie first, because it set the stage for my mind to have awesome special affects preprogrammed! *grin*
Lukyanenko wrote 3 books, in the following order: Night Watch, Day Watch, Twilight Watch. They are all part of the Night Watch series, and are sometimes called Night Watch, Night Watch II and Night Watch III. The movie that I saw (DayWatch) actually takes one small section from Night Watch, dealing with the Chalk of Fate (there are 3 books within each novel). I suspect the movie NightWatch, being a prequel to DayWatch, deals with the other 2 book the precede the Chalk of Fate in Night Watch. Yes, that was quite confusing to me as well. And there are still discrepancies between the movie and the book; ironically, having seen the movie, my mental images of Anton, Egor, Svetlana and the rest of the cast have been permanently affixed.
So, anyway, The Night Watch. I like the way Lukyanenko writes. While sometimes dull, the main character's introspection provides a lot of rich background to the story. I did not realize this when I read the book called Day Watch (all along I thought the book was related to the movie, but it is only slightly related). The idea of remoralization is rather interesting, and Lukyanenko starts to build a picture of a kind of "good vs evil" plot. But the "good" guys are not perfect, and the "evil" guys are not all bad. This makes the story seem a little more real, and little more believable. The magic system is a bit far-fetched, but I found it refreshingly so. The Twilight is a huge mystery, and it seems that even the most powerful folks do not fully understand it. I find the various players, their skill levels and individual personalities quite fascinating. In a way I am glad I saw the movie first, because it set the stage for my mind to have awesome special affects preprogrammed! *grin*
07 January 2009
Saint Antony's Fire, by Steve White
I have never really been a big fan of alternative history, and this book just reinforced that idea. And the whole thing with the stereotypical alien is just way too over-the-top for me. What is this, a circus?
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, 2007
Blah. I am tempted to leave it at that.
There are so many divergences from the comics that I easily loose track of the connection. Perhaps that is the intent? Interesting how Stan Lee's cameo was only to be refused at the glorified wedding. That my favorite part, and that is saying something.
Way too much CGI. With all the other horrible liberties taken, I am surprised they stuck with Norrin Radd's background. And more on that.... Doug Jones, another very interesting fellow. He wears a lot of make-up in his other movies, so much so that one would never recognize him as the same man who was in Hellboy, Pan's Labyrinth, and others.
And I'll leave it at that.
There are so many divergences from the comics that I easily loose track of the connection. Perhaps that is the intent? Interesting how Stan Lee's cameo was only to be refused at the glorified wedding. That my favorite part, and that is saying something.
Way too much CGI. With all the other horrible liberties taken, I am surprised they stuck with Norrin Radd's background. And more on that.... Doug Jones, another very interesting fellow. He wears a lot of make-up in his other movies, so much so that one would never recognize him as the same man who was in Hellboy, Pan's Labyrinth, and others.
And I'll leave it at that.
XXX: State of the Union, 2005
This was not bad for a B-Movie. Unfortunately, it is not a b-movie. I'm sorry, but Ice Cube is no replacement for Vin Diesel. The tech was unbelievable, the acting so-so (the college-kid sidekick was horrible), the plot extremely thin, special-effects anything but special. For instance, the "half mil car" with something 1000 horsepower or whatever. The Bugati Veyron has 1001 horses and can achieve over 250 mph, but only with special adaptations that allow the car to stay on the road. The movie's roadster looked rather plain for such a car, and somehow it was able to jump a bank, waddle around on the train tracks for a while before loosing the tires and riding the rails bare??!? Whatever.
I did not like Dafoe or Jackson, either. Everytime I see Dafoe doing something military, I think of his poorly-casted role as John Clark in Clear and Present Danger, and Jackson always harkens me back to Pulp Fiction.
I did not like Dafoe or Jackson, either. Everytime I see Dafoe doing something military, I think of his poorly-casted role as John Clark in Clear and Present Danger, and Jackson always harkens me back to Pulp Fiction.
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