Cast:Samuel L. Jackson, Kelly Hu, Ron Pearlman Runtime: 5 episodes at 25 min each Genres: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Science Fiction Rating: Mature Submitted by: Bryan (AMCC, VP)
Summary: The tale of Afro Samurai is one of bloody hardship and pain. Along his solitary path of revenge for his murdered father, he sheds no tears and knows no love. Forever chased by powerful enemies in a lawless technology-speckled dystopia, he evades bullets and blade to reach his final prey: a man who will not die. But Afro will reach his quarry - even if it means painting a road of blood and brains from here to the bitter inevitable end.
(courtesy of aniDB.com)
Animation: The studio doing the animation, Gonzo has done many great anime and the scenes in the show are very high quality. The fight scenes are sometimes fast and might be hard to catch but are very impressive. And this being a collaboration between the US and Japan, the style used in the series to mix aspects of both cultures does not seem so weird which is a great job by the design team.
Sound: Now for many who do not like English dubs in their anime, this may put them off from watching this series. However, with the famous names voicing the characters, they do a very good job and for me at least, it helped me get over my irritation of English voiced anime. As for the music, since it was made in collaboration with the US, the music is done by hip hop groups such as RZA which complements the style very well.
Storyline: The story is very straightforward and for some, leads to a very predictable plot. The infusion of hip-hop and feudal Japan ideas however, help keep the story interesting. The plot also calls for a few flashbacks which help flesh out the characters and even then, the violence is in full motion. The ending to me has a very nice twist but seems a tad out of place.
My take: Overall, the action is very fluid, gory and violent which is fine by me. The fights however at times can be very short by almost ‘Ghost Rider: The Movie’ standards. The ending was satisfying but somewhat puzzling yet helps set up the potential for more sequels. There are some bits of nudity so I wouldn’t recommend watching it with your siblings (although the violence should be the main reason they shouldn’t watch it). Still, it is a much watch anime with its positives far outweighing its negatives.
Overall: 4/5 stars
Anime Dept. Head's Comments:No Comments! Why? Cos We Don't have a Anime Dept Head! We'll get to filling that spot eventually... In the mean time, please offer your comments on this review in the "comments" section below.
System: PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 Submitted by: Brandon (VG. Dept Head) Genre: First Person Shooter (FPS)
Introduction Before I start this review proper, I would just like to say that this review means a lot to me. This game means a lot to me. I was a big fan of the game’s predecessor, Team Fortress Classic (TFC), and I’ve been eagerly awaiting this game’s release ever since they first announced its development way back in 1999. Naturally, I bought the game the first day it was released (I’ve even still got the receipt to prove it) and have so far sunk almost 450hours into the game.
Graphics and Style The first thing you’d notice about Team Fortress 2 (TF2) is that it looks like a “cartoon come to life” with a visual style similar to the Pixar movie, the Incredibles. I find that this is extremely refreshing when compared with other First Person Shooters (FPS) such as the Call of Duty Series or Counter Strike. In fact, having such a cartoonish style allows players to suspend disbelief when characters do things like rocket jumping*.
* (Using the explosion from your own rocket to jump to incredible heights, while suffering only a small amount of damage to yourself in exchange. It is often used to get to more advantageous positions on the map.)
[Pictured] A Pyro taunting after he killed me. Notice the smooth textures, the reflections in the water and even the water dripping off the character model.
Team fortress 2 is a purely multiplayer experience. Those with no internet connection need not apply. The game has no Storyline, plot or twist at the end. It does however, have interesting and well developed characters. Unfortunately, those characters die all of the time, but don’t worry; they all come back to life soon after a short respawn time.
The game has a unique design style, voice and personality for each of the 9 playable classes. A far cry from the homogenous cookie cutter soldiers in most other FPS games. For example, the sniper is an Australian hunter, and uses phrases like “G’day”, or “mate”. The Demoman on the other hand, is Black, often drunk, has only one eye and is Scottish. Other characters to look out for include the Russian Heavy weapons guy, the German medic, the Texan Engineer and the French Spy.
Meet the... To further add personality to the characters, Valve, the company that made the game, releases “meet the class” videos to accompany each update. In these increasingly elaborate videos, the featured class often addresses the audience and talks about themselves these monologues are quite humorous and often show that class in action as well.
These videos not only add personality to the classes, but also display the abilities of the class. One thing that I found to be very impressive is that the events in these videos are sometimes referenced by the characters in-game. For example, in one of the videos, the sniper receives a cut on his cheek. I was very surprised to find that the in-game model for the sniper was also altered to have a scar in as well.
[Above] The "Meet the Sniper" promotional video. The other videos can be found HERE.
Gameplay As I mentioned earlier, TF2 is a class based shooter. Players can pick from 9 diverse classes, each with their own strengths, weaknesses and abilities. There is no one class that is the “best”, each class plays quite differently from the next, and you’ll need a different set of skills to use each one effectively.
The Sniper can kill any class with a well placed headshot, but is weak at close combat and has to charge up his weapon before he can fire. The Heavy Weapons Guy (Heavy) has very high health and wields a Minigun, making him excellent at close and mid-ranged combat, but is slow moving, and thus vulnerable to Snipers and Spies. The Spy can become invisible and disguise himself as members of the enemy team and has the ability to kill a foe with a single backstab. The downside of the spy is that he is quite weak, and cannot fight as well as the other class head-to-head, relying instead on stealth and cunning to get kills. Engineers are weak fighters as well, but can build a variety of useful structures to help the team. One of these structures is a powerful upgradable Sentry gun that guns down any enemies that come in range.
[Pictured] A Spy learns the hard way that he can't go Toe-to-Toe with the Heavy.
As you can see, the “Team” in Team Fortress 2 is not just for show. Working as a team and picking classes that suit the current situation are the keys to victory.
~ How TF2 stands out from the Pack ~
In a way, one FPS game is much like the other. You run around a map, sometimes alone and sometimes with a team, killing stuff. So I feel it is important to talk about some of the special mechanics built into the game to help it stand out from the crowd.
The Nemesis-Domination System One of the most striking differences is the “Nemesis-Domination” system. If you kill or assist in killing someone 3 times in a row without them killing you back, you are considered to be dominating them and you will become their nemesis. A message will be shown to the whole server and you will have a special symbol floating above your head only visible to those who are being dominated by you. In the same way, you will be able to see the symbol above the head of the one dominating you. If a person succeeds in killing their Nemesis, they will get a revenge kill and receive extra points.
[Pictured] The "Nemesis" Icon floating above the head of the one Dominating you.
Scoring and Death In terms of scoring points, you don’t only get points for killing enemy players, but instead you are also rewarded for doing your job in the team. Medics get points for healing people and when their heal target kills something; they get credit for the kill as well. Engineers get points for building stuff and receive additional points whenever people use their buildings. At the end of each round, the highest scoring 3 players of the winning team are displayed and are listed as MVP’s of the map.
[Pictured] A snapshot of my stats in-game. Note the although my kills were 32, my overall points were 42. This is because other things such as assisting team-mates and dominating opponents also add points to your score. Also note that there are 13 ways to get points besides killing others, such as healing or for capturing objectives.
One nice feature is that only your total points scored can be seen by others, they cannot see how many times you were killed in order to get that amount of points. I feel that this is a nice feature, as in games like counter strike, your skills are judged not only by the number of kills you have, but by the number of deaths you have as well. A person with a 20:2 kill-death ratio is judged to be more skillful than someone with say a 100:200 kill-death ratio. As opponents cannot see the number of deaths you have, you’ll be more inclined to try risky stuff without endangering your “image” in-game.
Deathcam The Deathcam is a in-game feature where the camera zooms in and freezes on the person that killed you. That person's name and health are also displayed and if that person is your Nemesis, the Nemesis icon is also displayed. If the person happens to be using a special unlocked weapon, the stats of that weapon are shown as well. You then have the option of hitting F5 to take a screenshot of the deathcam image. While this feature is by no means unique to TF2, it does sometimes provide you with entertaining photos. Also, there are several achievements that involve you taunting after you kill someone, giving them a deathcam shot of your taunt. In fact, most of the images I used in this review were deathcam shots from my own gameplay time.
[Above] This is a screenshot of the RED Demoman who killed and Dominated me, as you can see from the "New Nemesis" sign. Also in the screenshot, is my team-mate, the Blue Heavy, who decided to take the matter of my death into his own Super-charged, Boxing-gloved hands.
[Above]This Heavy sure is happy he killed me.
[Above] A cool-looking screenshot of a Medic-Pyro combo. The glowing red appearence of the two mean that they are currently invincible, an ability of the Medic. Also notice that the Weapon that Pyro was using at the time was a special unlocked weapon, so it's stats are displayed as well.
Critical hits One other thing that makes the game more enjoyable is the inclusion of random "critical hit" attacks. These Critical hits do 3 times as much damage as they normally would. Although the chance of getting a critical attack is small (2%) for standard weapons and around 15% for melee weapons, these Critical attacks make the game a whole lot more enjoyable.
[Pictured] When hit by a Critical attack, the words "Critical Hit!" are displayed for all to see. A special sound is played as well.
There are also several weapons that guarantee a Critical attack if used in a certain way. Examples of this are a Headshot from a Sniper Rifle or a Backstab from a Spy. Both of these attacks have a 100% Critical hit chance.
Stats Tracking The game also keeps track of a variety of statistics obtained by each class every time you play. Things like your total time spent as each class and the highest score you obtained while playing that class are just some of the many stats tracked. I find this to be a rather nice feature, as a little message pops up every time you die, informing you of your progress, and how close you were to your previous best score/ time. In this way, you are competing with yourself as much as you are competing against others.
[Pictured] A Screenshot of my performance report from in-game.
Almost like Christmas... A new game mechanic was also recently introduced that rewards the player with new weapons and sometimes even headwear for playing the game (Rewards of new weapons were previously earned by getting a certain amount of achievements). These rewards are completely random in nature and are awarded at unspecified intervals regardless of how well/ badly a player is performing. While I am a little put off by having sunk almost 30 hours of game time since the update and am so far only running into mostly repeats of weapons I already have, I find this new system extremely enjoyable! You could have a 4-hour gaming session and not receive anything, but when you do, it feels like Christmas morning.
[Above] A screen pops up every time you receive a new weapon. Weapons go into your backpack, where you can select the one that best suits the occasion. [Above]A snapshot of my current backpack. As you can see, I have several repeat weapons. Once the Trade function opens up, you guys are welcome to them.
[Above]The Screen where you can pick which weapon to equip to best suit your style and the situation you are in.
Conclusion Best of all, the game is updated quite frequently (at no cost), and I don’t mean just tweaking the existing gameplay. New content is added quite often, new weapons, new class specific achievements, new maps and new game modes are just some of the things that have been added since the game was first released. For perspective, the game launched with just 6 maps, 2 gameplay modes, 17 achievements and a total of about 25weapons (3 for each class, counting repeats). At present, there are 21 maps, 5 gameplay modes, 245 achievements and 43weapons available. With 3 classes yet to be updated and the promise of a 10th playable class to follow, how’s that for value for money?
Extra Stuff: [Above] 2 Unlockable Weapons for the Spy class (circled in red) unveiled and displayed in the style of a mock magazine catalog order form.
[Below] A Unlockable Weapon for the Scout Class, displayed in a similar style to the ones in the Spy update. Note the clever way they explain what the weapon does and what disadvantages it has.
VG Dept. Head's Comments: An Excellent review... at least that's what I would say If I wasn't the one who wrote the damn thing. Tell you guys what, You fellas can do me a favour and Leave your thoughts and comments below. Okay? Super.
Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Kelly Hu, Ron Pearlman
My take: Overall, the action is very fluid, gory and violent which is fine by me. The fights however at times can be very short by almost ‘Ghost Rider: The Movie’ standards. The ending was satisfying but somewhat puzzling yet helps set up the potential for more sequels. There are some bits of nudity so I wouldn’t recommend watching it with your siblings (although the violence should be the main reason they shouldn’t watch it). Still, it is a much watch anime with its positives far outweighing its negatives.
