Iron Giant Movie Review

Today I am reviewing "The Iron Giant".

This is one of my all time favorite movies. It actually ranks higher than any "Star Wars" title.
The basic plot involves The Iron Giant who has come from (Space?) and makes friends with Hogarth and Dean. Together they must hide the giant from Kent Mansley who is a Government agent.

I highly recommend this movie to all ages. However, To parents with overly young children a word of warning, there "Bad words" in this movie, including: Butt, Dammit(muffled by explosion but noticeable to those with sharp ears), and stupid. Also the movie takes place during the cold war so there are some grown up ideas in the movie. And last but not least, ****SPOILER ALERT****
If you do not want to know this part and are willing to risk it don't read this next part.















****SPOILER START****
The giant is in reality a giant weapon so there are scenes with extreme violence. Also in an effort to kill the giant the Navy launches a nuke that will destroy an entire town. The giant then sacrifices himself and "Dies" to save the town by flying into the missile. (This part will make almost any children, and some adults, cry. I recently watched it with my 11 year old brother, who hadn't seen it before, he cried.) However, in the end we see that the giant is all right and putting himself together in Iceland.
****SPOILER END****















Once again I highly recommend this movie. It is available from iTunes and Netflix.

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit Xbox 360 review

I have not beaten the game yet but it appears to be a very strong contender for my favorite racing game. In this game you play as either a racer or the cops. As the racers you must win races and other challenges while trying to not get caught, While the cops try and stop you. So far I haven't played online yet. This is mainly due to me not feeling comfortable playing with people I don't know.

On a scale of 1-10 I give it:

Ease of play: 6 (Being an EA title there is almost no tutorial. Those buying the game used will have trouble starting out. Anyone who has bought any number of games used knows why. Also EA uses a system where to play online you must have a pass. If you buy the game used the only way you can play online is either purchase a pass online or be lucky enough to buy one where the previous owner had not entered their code that came with the game.)

Graphics: 9 (Very pretty graphics and realistic cars and buildings. Though you won't notice most of the scenery at 150 MPH.)

Family friendly: 8 (No cursing mixed with vehicular violence makes this game a good family game.)

Replay: 6 (Not very much replay value since there aren't collectable items in the game. The only thing you will replay for is to get all gold or just enjoy beating on easy levels.)

All in all I give it a 8.

Edit 12/30/2011 12:36 PM: Edited the ratings to fit in with the other reviews. Sorry. Under the weather right now.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

First, I am sorry for the lack of posts. Been busy and stuff. Probably will be able to post a game review later this week and maybe some photos.

Second, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Hope you have all had a good year and hope the next is even better!

Evil Overlord Tip #1

This is something new I am going to be doing. These are going to be weekly tips for any Evil Overlords.

#1 If you have defeated the hero and/or have trapped him in a suitable manner and feel the irresistible need to turn him to your side somehow (The best choice you could make here would be to just kill him than separate his limbs and head than cremate each separately.), Turn him into a Cyborg and insure that you COMPLETELY REMOVE THE BRAIN! Any course of action that does not remove the brain totally will most likely result in him turning on you at some very inconvenient moment. It should be a no brainier (Pun intended) but after removal the brain should be destroyed.

Classic Game Review: Ape Escape. PS1.

Despite being a little sick today I am still gonna do a game review.

Today's review is Ape Escape for PlayStation 1.

This game is possibly one of my favorites ever. I have been very happy with the franchise(not counting off shoots. only the main games.)over the years.

The game's story is that a Monkey named Specter has accidentally been enhanced with an intelligence increasing helmet and has enhanced his fellow monkeys. using the Professor's new time machine he hopes to go back in time and rewrite history so that monkeys are the rulers. Spike must go through time and catch all the monkeys to set things straight.

The game is possibly one of the best looking games for PS1 and it was the first (to my knowledge) to really take advantage of the Dual shock Joystick controllers.

On a scale of 1-10 i give it:

Ease of Play: 8 (The game is fairly easy to play as far as controls go. At some parts in the story the game's difficulty seems to shift back in forth a bit but all in all it is constant. The controls might be a bit confusing at first but the game provides lots of help along the way. Oddly enough those that play FPS games might have an easier time playing it control wise.)

Graphics: 10 (First I would like to say that when doing classic game reviews I will compare them to the games of their time, it wouldn't be fair to compare them to games like Halo. Now, the game is beautifully done, It is possibly, in my opinion, the best looking game ever published for the PS1. The developers did a good job of insuring that the game is smooth and easy on the eyes.)

Replay: 6 (The only real thing to replay the game for is to go and find the monkeys you missed or needed extra gadgets to get to.)

Family friendly: 9 (No cursing, No blood, some violence but the player's main weapon is a STUN club so it is fine.)

All in all I give it a: 9

This game will probably be great for kids. Also the original game is available for download on PSN and the original game disc will play on any PS3. If you enjoy it I would suggest you look into the sequels that were made for PS2, I wouldn't hold my breath for any Ape Escape game that doesn't have a number after the title. I have played most of the off shoots and have not been impressed. I have heard that they are releasing a new game for the PS3. Being Move compatible it is an on rails type game. I hope that they release an actual sequel soon.

Once again, The writer is not affiliated in any way with Sony or the owners of the Ape Escape Franchise.

How to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse P2

How to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse.

Chapter 2.

Continuing our look at the possible Zombie apocalypse we will now delve into the spread of the Z-Virus and it's effects on Modern Society.

Before we continue the writer would like to reiterate that he does not believe the Zombie apocalypse is coming and that this is merely intended for speculation and entertainment purposes.

Now, let us continue.

2: The spread.

In the first chapter we looked at the probable cause of infection, having this in mind we will focus on a worst case scenario. The most likely cause for an infection would most likely be an experiment gone wrong. Having this in mind lets set the stage.

In a scientific institution in a large metropolitan area scientist have discovered a mysterious new organism. To test it's effects on larger organisms they inject the specimen into a lab rat, a common practice in medical testing due to rats biology being fairly similar to human's, and observe the effects. After roughly 24 hours the rat dies, believing the organism to have done it's damage they begin to dispose of the rat. however, on the way to the disposal unit they notice movement in the container. Upon opening it they find that the rat appears to be alive again, with some strange behavior. Believing they have possibly stumbled across the secret to eternal life they decide to run experiments on human volunteers. (By this point our societies knowledge and fear of Zombies should have ended it right here, however, for speculation we will assume that they don't give it another thought and continue.)

Testing begins shortly and as with the rat within 24 hours all subjects appear to be dead, however within a short time they are reanimated. To test their intelligence more volunteers are sent in to attempt interaction with the specimens. Predictably, it doesn't go well. The volunteers are bitten and a lock down is called. After being in lock down for about 36 hours movement has ceased and they go to check. The open the air locks to check and guards sent to check are overcome by a horde comprised of the original test subjects and the volunteers (minus a one or two of course.). they are quickly eaten or infected. however before the scientist can reinitialize the lock down one of the volunteers manages to unlock the decontamination room door. (Theoretically Zombie that are still within the first couple of days of infection would still have the dexterity and ingrained habit to open doors and mechanisms that they are used to.) falling upon the scientist they quickly dispose of them.

The outbreak progresses until all persons in the science center are either eaten or infected. once that happens they will somehow escape into the city and continue their rampage.

In a densely populated area the Z-Virus would spread very quickly. after three days the writer estimates that roughly %68 of the inhabitants will have been infected, another %28 percent would likely be eaten. After food sources become scarce, either through over hunting or victims fleeing, the Zombies would then attempt to relocate. Zombies relocate much like animals, either by catching a ride on human vehicles or merely by walking.

They would likely travel along highways where there is a large concentration of noise and movement as well as victims. Upon arriving at the next destination the cycle would start again.

We can probably expect infection to be present in almost every major city in the country (Due to the writers limited ,none, experience with other countries and cultures we will assume the breakout has occurred in the U.S.A.) within a month.

3: Effects on society

The effects on society would be fairly unnoticeable for the first week to two weeks. This will be mainly from society simply not believing or refusing to believe that Zombies are real and little action will be taken.

Within three weeks most of society will accept that Zombies have come, either because of infection in their city or town or reliable sources. Some action will be taken but most will probably adopt a "It only happens to other people." attitude.

Within five weeks the Z-Virus will have spread to almost every major cities and many towns. The infections can range from whole cities infections or minor numbers. Most northern Cities will have been over run and the majority of survivors will be in a panic. Supplies will suddenly become a sought after and fights will ensue.

After two months almost the entire northern states will have been over run, The only pockets of survivors being those protected and housed at military establishments and homegrown militia bases and encampments. Some order will have been returned but it will be mainly tyrannical with multiple small "Empires" existing wherever anyone with weapons and supplies has enough power to take over the region. The outbreak will continue to spread, though at a slower rate.

Within six months most local "Empires" will have crumbled, either under the onslaught of undead or it's own people. Military resources will have been depleted and supplies running low for most areas. Deaths will begin to rise, either by starvation, infighting, or Infection.

Within one year society in general will have broken down into roving bands of survivors, These clans being eventually hunted down by the undead, one by one they will be hunted down and infected or eaten. Those not killed by the infected will die of starvation, injury, disease, or infighting. The human race as we know it is quickly becoming extinct.

Within two years the human race will have dwindled to just those in desert regions where the infected dry out and crumble minimizing their threat and to those in polar regions where Zombies freeze in place, unable to provide body heat.

In this scenario society as a whole has broken down and has been eliminated. the only echoes of it are tribes living in conditions that threaten them almost more than the Z-Virus.

Only after many years have passed will the last Zombie "Die" by decomposition and allow the human race to repopulate most of the planet. Even at this point the society that emerges will be just a mere shadow of the former. Constantly being in fear of the infection that could reemerge.

Please note that this is a worst case scenario. There are multiple actions that can be taken to avoid this end, we will examine these in the next chapter.

Happy Thanksgiving!

For all readers in America, Happy Thanksgiving! for everyone else, Happy Thursday!