If your looking for more of a skating sim then this is gonna be great but if your really just into Tony Hawk games I don’t know if this is gonna do it for you. I myself while I respect what Skate is doing, am not all that interested in it. I still like the arcady over the top feel I get for the Tony Hawk games.

 As a game so far preview score: 7/10

As a personal score: 5/10

 Notes: This game has it’s audience and they will love it, it’s just not my game though.

 So guys what do you think so far. This this is easily going to be nominated for just about every game of the year award and will have a good shot at winning a lot of them. It’s a hard fall so we will have to wait but this one will definetly be a front runner.

Story: Just quickly our plane crashes and you are stuck in rapture and while there you try to find out what happened to the city also.

My suggestion guys is to play this game the way it was meant to be played and not just rush through it like a typical shooter. Explore, keep a nice pace, and listen to the diaries. They aren’t a huge plot point but they truly emurse you into the culture and the story behind rapture. If you don’t listen to them only like 20-30 seconds a piece your loosing out on a whole part of the experience. If you rush though it you can probably beat it in about 15 hours but if you truly imerse yourself into rapture you can play for 20-25 hours. The voice acting in the game is incredible, and uses the correct termenology for the time period. You really feel like your in the fifties and sixties.

One techinial complaint I have is that the cut scenes go into wide screen then back into full screen for the game and it seems a bit distracting to me. But it’s just a little thing. Plus it doesn’t happen much, I’m 4 hours in or so and only had like 2 cut scenes. Most of the story is found by the diaries and by Atlas the voice you first here. Thats not a spoiler because it’s in the demo and happens in the first 2 minutes.

Plasmids: while I haven’t gotten them all, they are quite addictive and a hell of a lot of fun to use. You will be wanting to get all the EVE Hypo you can b/c these plasmids are godly when used properly. They also looks so sick, and some of them very disturbing.

guns: I can’t talk about the type of guns but what I want to say is how these are the best FEELING guns I’ve ever played with. They have a real weight to them. Example in Halo a smg or br looks and plays like they weigh 2 pounds. In Bioshock a revolver feels like it ways 20 pounds and a shotgun feels like it ways 70. It just feels good to hold them, plus they have fantastic reloading animations i.e. I love the machine gun reload animation.

Rapture: The art direction here is above and beyond what any game has done before. This game is on a Hollywood level and it shows. While some plot points make you go to certain places the game is somewhat open. Everything tells a story, the apartments, the medical pavilion, they all tell a visual story about what caused the fall of rapture and the ideals that the people lived there had. In simple terms this game doesn’t dumb things down. There are signs, and pictures, and the way corpses died that tell a narrative, but if you choose to you can overlook that entire aspect of the game. I don’t know why you would but people will play it differently, i’m just saying for your moneys worth and for good games everywhere give this game your 20+ hours and not just 15. About one hour of my time already has been just standing looking in awe of the worlk and the detail. I stood looking at water falling down steps for ten minutes. This may sound odd but get the game and tell me when you just stood there and did the same thing. For a decidedly creepy city it is among the most beautiful and fully relized worlds put into a game as of date.

The Big Daddies: Are ****ing awesome I tell ya. They deliver on every level they were promised. They are hard as hell and on average I die about 3 times before I can kill them on normal. This game is forgiving because their health doesn’t regenerate which is fine with me but I know some people may not be a fan of that approach. There are different types of Big Daddies but in the end your going to have a lot of trouble with all of them.

Hint: use your electic buckshot shotgun.

I won’t reveal your decision but just know your choice to Harvest or rescue the big Daddies will have an effect on the ending but not how the story goes until that point. I personally will be playing through it twice because of this.

Almost forgot “The Quest Arrow” I love it, it doesn’t baby you and tell you exactly where to head like in Halo. It’s more of just a general things. I suggest not going where it says first because all the levels have a ton of side rooms outside of the main story and path. Some have good pickups too. Oh and please makes sure to check out every corpse, crate, table, cabinet, and safte. Also hack every dam thing you can get your hands on it will help. The hacking can get a tad old after a while but they evolve the puzzles just enough to keep you interested in continuing to hack.

So I am only about 1/4 through the game but here is my scores for now. I’ll adjust if I need to when I finish the game.

Story: 8.5 (my score until I get further into it, so far its aweosme but not perfect)

art Direction: 10

graphics: 10 (have not seen a single misstep yet)

gameplay: 9.5 ( very fluid but sometimes a bit slow when in the heat of a chaotic battle)

overall: 9.5 ( trust me once I see the whole story and play it a bit more this will be going up)

 Nintendo Conference: Not anything really that pops out to me. It had some great news items though. Wii Fit looked like a cool Idea I’ll be interested to see if it sells well. The zapper seemed pretty stupid to me as did the mario racing wheel. They seemed like a quick way to make 10 bucks but pretty useless. Smash brothers and Galaxy out in November and December makes me really happy. The Metroid Prime 3: Corruption demo was fantastic. I was really on the fence but after seeing the girl demo it I want it now. It looks like it may be the first good shooter on the Wii. I love my Ds to death and was so excited about all the new Square Enix games and the new Zelda coming in October. This will be one hell of a fun holiday on the wii.

Sony Conference: Sony did such a good job with the conference. There were so many awesome games they announced coming between 4th quarter 2007 and 2nd quarter 2008. So you don’t need to buy a PS3 yet but by the winter you better start thinking about it. I expect to have one with in this window. Drake’s Fortune, Heavenly Sword, MGS4, Killzone 2, Little Big Planet, Home going live, and more… Oh and How AMAZING was the Killzone 2 gameplay. The explosions weren’t that good but the rest was incredible. It absolutely game me a mind job right there, unbelievable. The PSP redesign wasn’t really that interesting to me. The games don’t seem to be all that interesting and I don’t know why you’d play your “portable” games on a TV. Why? So Sony game a really good showing, not to mention they gave us a good retrospective of where they are going in the next year or 2 witch is something Microsoft didn’t do at all and Nintendo only touched on.

It’s only the second day of E3 but I’ll put up a list of most anticipated so far (NOT IN A PARTICULAR ORDER) I won’t make a final in order list until E3 is over and I’ve seen everything.

You know what I’ll just list a bunch of stuff for now with a note on my excitement level for it.

Microsoft:

Silent Hill 5 (Wait and see)
Kane and Lynch (moderate)
Assasin’s Creed (OMG yell yeah)
Call of Duty 4 (looks awesome but still unsure with gameplay)
Army of Two (meh looks good but gameplay demo was boring)
Halo 3 (Will buy but am starting to lower expectations and may not get the legendary anymore)
Too Human (looking pretty sweet but I’ll wait for now)
Rock Band (how awesome is the drum set
Mercanaries 2 (good but not enough to suprass the other more original shooters)
Burnout Paradise (looks Fantastic)
RE5 (I can’t wait)
Lost Odyssey (meh)
GH 3 (it looks great but I’ll pick Rock Band first)
Mass Effect (Can’t freaking wait)
StrangleHold (love it but have others to get first0
Bioshock (A big freaking DUHHH)
PGR4 (don’t care)
Halo Wars (looks awesome and hope it gets on a PC because I’m not interested in the console)
Timeshift (looks good so far)
Fracture (buying it for sure)

There’s more but I’ll wait or either just don’t care much

Sony:

MGS4 (looking absolutly incredible can’t wait for the demo next week)
Killzone 2 (Amazed and stunned beyond belief)
Little Big Planet (looking awesome but I’m on the fence)
Uncarted: Drake’s Fortune (I love it to death so far)
Haze (Looking good but another shooter)
Heavenly Sword (next gen God of War pretty much and can’t ****ing wait)
Warhawk (looks sweet as hell)
Turok (amazing finally a good Turok game, its been a while)
Lair (So incredible one of the things that will make me get a PS3)
Ratchet and Clank (So excited for it, can’t wait to use the groovitron)
Dynasty Warrior: Gundam (total suprise and am intruiged)
More… a lot of games on 360 too so didn’t want to re-tye them.
PsP: God of War was about it

Nintendo:

Wii:
Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 (it’s great I liked the first one a ton)
Super Smash Brothers Brawl (one of the best games ever)
Wii Fit (interesting I almost don’t know if it should be called a game lol)
Super Mario Galaxy (Looks amazing and great so I’ll be there)
Metroid Prime 3 (I was skeptical but now I’m really stoked for it.)
Fire Emblem: GoD (always good games so I’ll check it out)
Mario Kart Wii (this is also a big DUHHH)
Boogie (confused yet intruiged)
Mushroom Men (good graphics but not into it)

NDS:

Contra 4 (Hell yeah back to basics)
Flash Focus (good concept but still not interested)
Brain Age 2 (looking good)
Nintendo Crossword (I don’t like crosswords)
Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (incredible can’t wait to get my hands on it)
Demention: The Ward (interesting very interesting)
Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword (OMG can’t Wait)
Dragon Quest: Swords (looks okay, not a fan of the series though)
All Final Fantasy Games: (Love and will buy without hesitation. FF 3 captured my heart)

PC:

 Crysis (looks great can’t run it)
Gears of War ( looks cool but played it and can’t run on my Pc)
Hellgate: Londan (looks great can’t run on PC)
Empire Earth 3 (cool but nothing original)
Simcity Societies (I really am into this game so far)
Spore (excited and can’t wait to see the final product)

are we seeinga theme here lool? There’s more but nothign to mention really so far

Suprises:

RE5 trailer out of left field here
Wii Fit odd but new
Sony not stinking up the place
Killzone 2 I was stunned and didn’t know this was possible
Drums for Rock Band (thought it would be crappy pad but dam it looks cool)
Mario Kart Wii can’t wait for hte online play

No Shows:

No new GTA 4
Smash Bros. Footage
Nothing else really I’m pretty satisfied with things so far.

Disappointments:

Unreal Tournament 3 Ps3 exclusive (at least for a while)
Halo 3 campaign montage (graphics were bad and lowed expectations a lot)
Wii online still kinda sucks
New PSP design not worth it, what a waste
No PSP support still (not good games really)
Halo 3 console
Wii Accessories Zapper, and wheel
Army of Two good graphics but boring gameplay so far.

So far I would say as far as the companies go I think it’s in this order

1. Sony
2. Nintendo
3. Microsoft

Best Games:

1. Sony
2. Microsoft
3. Nintendo Wii/DS

Note: This is based on the E3 2007 footage, interviews, and conferences only. Not based on previous stuff or speculation. Also we are only two days in so it should be interesting to see where it goes.

PS. If I forgot some things sue me lol. It’s hard to keep up with everything at E3 but this is what I think so far on the event.
 

1. The standard full review I already do (3 or more paragraphs)

2. Quick Reviews (1 paragraph typically 4-6 sentences)

 The reviews will all be labeled so you know which type they are. I’m doing this so I can get more reviews out there in a timely manner. So don’t expect a lot of detail about the film in the Quick Reviews. It’s more for just giving my opinion quickly. The full reviews will be for usually new releases or films I feel I want to describe in more detail.

 Also if you like one of my Quick Reviews and would like to see a full review then let me know. I can’t promise I’ll do it but if I can I’ll try okay.

 Thanks and hope your enjoying the blog so far

P.s. I know I said movies but I mean this for other reviews as well okay.

 Anchorwoman

 First Impressions: This show doesn’t seem like it’s going anywhere. This is probably going to end before mid-season if I had to make a prediction. I just don’t see this working on the fox network.” 

Back To You

 First Impressions: This new show  Stars Kelsey Grammer as Chuck
Patricia Heaton as Kelly and Fred Willard as Marsh. It’s from the creators of Frasier and from what I can tell it looks pretty good. I don’t know if it will last but I say it’s got a descent shot. I love all of the main cast so this could be good. It’s not exactly my type of show but still it does have it’s charm. 

Canterbury’s Law

First Impressions: I loved the preview trailer, now I’m not into law shows like Law and Order or the Practice and so on. I find most of them to be completely boring but this has just enough edge to it to get me excited. Yes the edge is a bit manipulated but hey it was enough to get me interested in a show about lawyers. That makes it a must see for me. I don’t know if it will make it but I sure do hope so. At least one or two seasons would be my guess but we’ll have to see. I’m looking for to this show how ‘bout you?

Kitchen Nightmares

First Impressions: Yawn ZZz…  Another crappy reality show from the guy you stars in Hell’s Kitchen

K-Ville

First Impressions: Not bad, I don’t know if I’ll be tuning in to it but I wouldn’t say it’s horrible. I like the cast and think the premise has a lot of potential so far. I’m on the fence with this one, it could go after a few episodes but maybe it could do well this one is a tough call.

Nashville

First Impressions: From the makers of Laguna Beach already makes me put up the “Avoid This Sign” so I won’t be there for the pilot but until we see a trailer we can’t really say much yet.

New Amsterdam

First Impressions: It looks pretty good actually. I didn’t think it would come off as well as it does. I’m pretty impressed, I’ll definitely check out the pilot and see how this thing turns out.

The Return of Jezebel James

First Impressions: Even though the trailer wasn’t awful. I can pretty much tell this show won’t last through the mid-season.

The Rules For Starting Over

First Impressions: If this thing isn’t cancelled by the second episode I’ll be completely amazed. This trailer was horrible and I don’t see it making it very far.

The Sarah Connor Chronicles

First Impressions: I will totally be checking in to see this show. I’m a geek at heart and just like Heroes and smallville have captured my imagination I’m sure this will too. I love the first two films so much and to see a weekly show with Terminators is like a dream come true. I really hope this last because it looks really good.

The Search for the Next Great American Band

First Impressions: I am pretty interested. I will admit I like American Idol from time to time but a show about bands would be great I think. Who knows if it will last, this could be a few years too late but it should be interesting to see how it does.

When Women Rule The World

First Impressions: Women will love it and men will hate it with a passion. I won’t be there because these reality shows just don’t do it fore me most of the time. It’s a cheap idea and I don’t see this going far at all.

Overall Impressions: They have a lot of shows but expect about half of them to be gone by mid-season. It will be interesting to see which ones will make the cut. There are certainly a few shows that look promising so while Fox usually can’t handle a show correctly the ones they have usually end up being my favorite shows.

 The Big Bang Theory

First Impressions: Well written and looks really good. This could be a moderate hit. I don’t think it will be huge but it could be great. Might have done better 10 years ago but hey better now then ever. I like the look of it, I like the humor and could see myself checking out a few episodes at least.

Cane

First Impressions: Looks amazing so far. Well produced, well written. I’m really excited to see where this show goes. It could be a great new show we’ll have to see.

Kid Nation

First Impressions: The first reality show I’ve seen in a while that looks like it may have some potential to be a good show.

Moonlight

First Impressions: Looks quite good. The only thing is if the show isn’t Buffy or Angel it will most likely fail. Vampire shows just don’t do that good usually. This does look like it will have a shot and I’ll see the pilot hoping it’s another great fantasy prime time show.

Viva Laughlin

First Impressions: Just not for me. No preview but from what I have seem I’m just not interested.

Overall Impressions: Has two or three shows with great potential. I really hope CBS does some good this year. In the years past they’ve pretty much been my least favorite network.

Notice: I will only be listing my thoughts on the new shows not putting up the show summary to find out about these shows go to www.nbc.com 

Journeyman

First Impressions: Seems promising, I don’t know if I’ll watch it but I can see the potential. There really aren’t enough good prime time sci-fi shows so hears hoping it last.

Chuck

First Impressions: I don’t like it at all. This seems like a show that could have done well 20 or 30 years ago but now it’s just super cliché and unfunny. I don’t think this will be around for very long.

Bionic Woman

First Impressions: Looks pretty awesome, I’ll be seeing the pilot and watching the show need I say more?

Life:

First Impressions: It looks really good. I could easily see myself getting into this show. Can’t wait I really hope this show goes far. It has some great potential. The main character seems good kind of like a House for cops. At least that is the vibe I’ve got so far.

The Singing Bee

First Impressions: Don’t care, seriously I don’t care.

Overall Impressions: Bionic Woman and Life look like they have great potential. If they can hit along with the series Heroes and Lost then NBC may take the best showing this fall.

Notice: This is based on impressions only. For summaries and previews go to www.cwtv.com 

Aliens in America

First Impressions: It seems kind of stupid. I really don’t think this show will make it. It could easily be taken as being racist as well. I know that’s not what they want but from the preview it just seemed like that.

Gossip Girl

First Impressions: Definitely not my type of show so oh well.

Reaper

First Impressions: Looks pretty dam good. I’m excited about it. It’s the only thing on the CW that looks at least descent. So I’ll certainly see the pilot and hopefully it goes somewhere. Kevin Smith looks like he did a pretty good job with the premise so far.

Overall Impressions: Pretty bad to say the least. Other then Reaper I don’t see any new fans coming to the CW. I’ll watch Smallville and Supernatural but not much else. Seems like a pretty dull fall for the CW.

Notice: I’m only posting my impressions and not the summary of the show. For the summaries and previews head over to www.abc.com 

Samantha Who?

First Impressions: Seems a bit cliché, it’s probably not something I will actively watch no real interest in pursuing it.

Caveman

First Impressions: Shamefull and quite possibly one of the worst tv shows in years. I know that’s hard to imagine but it might just be true. I hope this thing is dead and buried by the end of the pilot.

Carpoolers

First Impressions: Overly sitcomish and I hope this doesn’t hit.

Pushing Daises

First Impressions: It may be just to weird to be a mainstream hit but it could be really good and revolutionary if it hits.

Dirty Sexy Money

First Impressions: Seems really odd and I don’t think that is in a good way. I just know I won’t be watching it so there you go.

Big Shots

First Impressions: Seems kinda boring, like a Desperate Housewifes for men. Um No?

Women’s Murder Club

First Impression: Looks okay but I don’t think I could take another cop show. Plus no offense but I’m not a women and so it really isn’t that interesting to me.

Cashmere Mafia:

First Impressions: The preview didn’t work. Plus with Cashmere in the title I already know I won’t be watching it.

Eli Stone

First Impressions: Seems interesting. As they put it the humor of Monk, spirituality of The Ghost Whisperer and the quirkiness of The Practice. Could be something to look out for.

Miss Guided

First Impressions: Could be funny but it isn’t my taste. It could be neat for some people though so if your into it this could be good.

Overall Impressions: This network definitely isn’t after me because almost none of these shows have any appeal. The only one I’m even remotely interested in is Eli Stone, other then that this channel doesn’t look good so far.

Okay so the plot of the Transformers is fairly simple. The Decepticons and Audobots had a war and lost the “all spark” a device which makes any mechanical thing it touches become a transformer. This all spark ends up on earth and both the autobots and decepticons know this. The decepticons want to make earth their new home and want to destroy the humans. While the autobots aim to destroy the all spark and save the humans. Along with this central plot we see the story of Sam Witwicky (Shia Labeof) and Bumblebee and their bond.

I would have loved to have more dialogue between the autobots but what was there was enough to leave me wanting more. Also the decepticons just don’t have enough dialogue period. Except Megatron and Frenzy no character has more then 2 lines. Don’t take this as a lack of robots because trust me they are definitely on screen most of the time. I think while they could have done a better job dialogue wise I don’t think there was really anything wrong with the film.When I say this film has the best action set pieces in years I’m not joking. I seriously mean it, the complexity and originality was incredible. Also for a Pg-13 film the action here is brutal, Even cringe worthy at times. If there is a sequel I know I’ll be waiting for it with baited breathe.

Bottom Line: Best Action film in years along with great humor the Transformers are More than meets the eye.

1-10: 9.5