Barnestorming- Onward to Venus in Review, Homeland, Gameboy Advance, Edge of Tomorrow

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Quit agreeing with me and write about Imperial Assault some more.

Wow, i would have found it so predictable if you crapped on Edge of Tomorrow because of the video game similarity but instead you embraced it. Colour me impressed.

I loved that movie so much. I don't think it'll make my top ten though

So many great moments and just tons of fun in that flick. As much as I want to hate on Tom Cruise, it's really hard when he plays this type of role so insanely well.

oh and Bill Paxton

Metroid Fusion is great. I think they made some kind of exclusive at some point but Zero Mission is even better. Remake of the first game with all the additions made in Super Metroid and Fusion, plus a little bonus section that nicely ties it into the Prime games. Metroid is pretty much tied with Castlevania for my favorite series of all time, with Zero Mission being my favorite.

Edge of Tomorrow is based on "All you need is kill" by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. The ending in the book is different and I think more interesting than the films but I did enjoy the movie.

What's wrong with Final Fantasy VII? I love VI, but of course with caveats, due it being so old.

GBA is great. Its basically a portable Super Nintendo. It even has the SN's version of Zelda.

FFVII is one of the worst things to happen to gaming.

No, I'm not exaggerating.

I'm a big fan of the John Carpenter album.

I don't know if I've played a Martin Wallace title that I've liked, but that could be because I shied away from him after not liking the first few.

I've actually liked most of the Wallace games I've played, despite them all having that slightly janky feel. It's gotten better since the days of Empires of the Ancient World, Way out West and all that where it always felt like you were playing the game slightly wrong and the rules seemed to imply an expectation that you had already played the game with the designer at the table. I'm not really quite sure why so many people practically genuflect at mention of his name- probably because what he does remains pretty esoteric and his games seem like you are required to wear a beard to enjoy them. I dunno.

On FFVII, I agree with Josh. FFVII begat a whole, whole lot of video games bullshit. That was really the moment when game developers thought they were filmmakers all of a sudden. Thing is, they should have followed what Kojima was doing in that regard, not the FF series. The later games (well, up through like 10) aren't as egregious about it.

But you know, truth be told, I haven't played it in like 18 years. I'd check it out again, sure. But I remember feeling like it was really limited, contained and without much to actually do. Yet here I am enjoying Dragon Quest, which is simpler, so who knows, maybe there's something to rediscover there.

I actually didn't really like the Metroid games back in the 80s/90s. I remember playing Metroid when it came out and thinking "man, this game is about just jumping UP the whole time". Later on I came to appreciate the atmosphere and design...now, yeah, I'd rank it with Castlevania and Metal Gear, easily.

Literally all I want to do today is to get back to Metroid Fusion...Zero Mission isn't on virtual console, hopefully it will be sometime.

I think the thing I hated about FFVII is how the mainstream public suddenly identified RPG with that game. Great (totally scripted) story, pre-made characters, "strategic" combat... FFVII became the awakening point of "new age gamer". They crapped on action & western RPG, without knowing that the first Zelda was action RPG. Then there was another game with day & night cycle which they touted as totally innovative. Sad people. I still remember I joined a gaming mailing list with boatloads of FPS haters.

The game itself is... okay.

Edge of Tomorrow really impressed me with the relationship between the two main characters, which was a very difficult needle for the writer to thread. They had a bond, she could empathize, but there could never be "something" there. It would have been very easy to fall into something more dependable. They almost did, but then held off. That impressed me. Good writing.

Saw it Saturday and I'm still thinking about it.

S.

Wasn't that a lovely little beat there at the end? There wasn't the promise of a relationship or anything like that, it was like he just wanted to see if she was still there more than anything else.

I thought it was interesting too (and really kind of subtle) that Cage had used Rita's image as a recruitment tool...yet she hardly looks like a sexy, badass warrior or anything like that, she looks worn out and wounded- what a great bit of casting that was- and there's the implication that her battle prowess has more to do with her experience time-looping than the vaunted jacket technology that really doesn't seem to be all that useful on the battlefield.

THere's a lot more to that picture than I expected...I've been thinking about it a lot too, but not in the usual ways that SF films keeping you mulling over them. It's not the kind of SF film that beats you over the head with its ponderings and debates. It gets into finer, more human things like that relationship.

I also really liked how it started out almost as a Kafkan "wrong man" story...but then it's very much like a Heinlein or PKD story...and then there's all that video game and anime stuff in it too.

Yeah, this was a much better film than I anticipated. More Kubrick than Cameron. I don't want to spoil the show so I'll leave it at that, but there's a lot of complexity in their relationship that I haven't sorted out yet.

And there's a metaphoric scene in the middle of the film when he steps out of the jacket that harkens back to a fundamental concept of all fiction, one particularly critical to science fiction -- when you boil it down it's about the people and the narrative, the science is just a catalyst to the story.

Very good writing. Old school science fiction. This is the kind of thing that you see in the authors Al is calling out in his blog, from a day when gee-whiz had to happen in text and you had to write it well instead of planning to have the graphics team handle it in post-production.

S.

I loved Edge of Tomorrow. It's well written because it was a well written novel: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_You_Need_Is_Kill

I had an opportunity to get Onward for 10$ at a GeekAuction but I saw "Wallace" and passed on it. Unlike you, I ~can't~ generally palate buying a game that's still pink in the middle. Ironically, where you find Runebound bad, I find it smashing, and the one game he got right of all the games I've played.