IMDB Challenge – Film 001/250 – The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

So kicking off the challenge, we have one of my favourite movies ever, ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’.  When this was first releeased, I was dragged to see it as I didn’t really take an interest in it, and didn’t really want to see it.  However, my parents forced me to go and stand in a queue for an hour to get into the cinema, and my god am I glad they did.

Now an incredible 7 years after it first hit our cinema screen, the film still possess all the quality that made it so succesfull.  The special effects haven’t lost any of their spark, and still look almost completely real.  The casting is still perfect, and there is not one actor that doesn’t suit their roll down to a T.  Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens did a fantastic job turning this epic story into film, and even though a lot of Tolkeinites may be unhappy with what has been left out, they surely can’t deny that the makers have done a very good job.

Based on the books by J.R.R. Tolkein, ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring’ follows the first part of the story, taking us from where the adventure really began with the forging of the Ring, to the Shire, where we meet our true heroes, Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin, then on to Rivendell, where the rest of the fellowship including Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli are introduced, and finally to the very edges of Mordor, where the fellowship is split and take their seperate paths.

I’ve always found the film to have the perfect blend of action, comedy, drama and romance, so there’s something for everyone, even though it’s a fantasy with dwarves and elves and such.  I know some will disagree with me on this, but I still stand by this as one of the top 10 ever, or at least that i’ve seen.  Until another movie can come along and make me want to watch it everyday of the year, I will stand by that remark.

I will watch the other 2 films in due time, but the main part of this challenge for me is to see films that I haven’t before, so we’ll see what tomorrow brings

Challenges- The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

So as I mentioned in my last post, I like a bit of a challange, and for me, there are four kinds of challenge.

Firstly, there are the ones where absolutley no skill whatsoever is required to achieve what you need. There are a couple of games I can think of that fall into this category, and the first is quite obviously Avatar. To get all the achievements in this game, you just have sit pressing one button for about a minute. Very simple, very boring, not very fun. The second is Dorito’s Dash of Destruction, but unlike Avatar, this game is actually fun. Again, very little skill is required to beat the game, providing you can follow arrows to opponents (who can’t kill you) or objectives avoiding giant dinosaurs which provide no challenge at all. The one thing I will say about these games is that they are a godsend for scorewhores like myself.

Secondly, there are the challenges which, while still easy in the long run, require at least some level of skill to get where you want to go. This means that when you get there, you at least have a sence of satisfaction, rather than just going ‘meh’. One game I will include in this is Cars, because while for the most part it’s an easy game, finding and collecting all the postcards is a right PITA. Plus, I actually enjoyed the game, as I like racing games. This type of challenge applies to many of my 1k’d games, but not all of them, some are part of the next type of challenge.

The challenges which I prefer the most are the ones in this category. Games which require a decent level of skill to obtain all the points, but the challenges set aren’t out of the reach of normal people like myself. Games included in this include Guitar Hero and Rock Band, because 90% of the achievements can be obtained through practice, but the one game I have on my list, that goes in here that is 1k’d is Hitman. Expert and Proffesional difficuly are by no means easy, infact, they’re bloody hard, especially when you’re trying to get Silent Assasin and have no way of saving the game. However, with patience and knowledge of levels, the achievements suddenly unwrap infront of you. I have only been truley relieved at a few achievements so far, beating Jordan on GH2, 100% gaps in THAW, and 5 pro SA’s on Hitman, because they all took a lot of effort, but provided entertainment and never got boring.

The final type of challenge, is the kind I really hate, the kind that makes you think WHY!?!. These are the challenges that are so rediculous, you have to be almost godlike to get them. And what do they reward you with? Probably about 15-20 points. Some games are just out of this section, purley for the fact that although they take ages, they are still quite easy to get. The games i’m thinking of are games like Ridge Racer. I liked this game at first, but eventually it just became a drag to play the same 14 tracks over and over and over. Sure most of the achievements aren’t hard, but when you have to do 230 races in a non existant online area, and have to do 150 races without crashing, you do kinda think….why. I will get the points one day, but it won’t be soon, simply because I don’t possess the neccessary skill to do so, which is, quite simply, patience.

If I had patience, my GS% would damn sure be a lot higher than it is, maybe I should stop renting games I haven’t played, and just completed the ones I have…or would that be too sensible, seeing as Haly is now on 70k =/

Other random gaming stuff

So what else have I been doing since the last update, almost 1 month ago.

First comes A-Train HX, a ‘train simulator’ where 95% of the achievemnts are not based around trains. The majority can be earned by just using property and the stock market. There’s a fantastic guide over at http://borandi360.blogspot.com which explains how to do almost every achievment in the game easily. I used it and it got me about 700 points in 5 hours, always a good thing. It’s not a particularly good game, infact, some achievements are glitched, but for something to do for an hour at a time, it’s quite relaxing.

Onto Marvel:UA. I was recomended this by a few people, and I can see why. It’s a great game, I love playing games with superheros, as they’re usually good. The game provides a nice constant challenge, with the enemies growing at the same rate as you, but at the same time, they can all be dispatched by the same moves, over and over, so the challenge never really increases. The one thing I don’t understand about this game is why it’s so highly rated by it’s fans. The levels are just stupidly long, with massive gaps in between saves and checkpoints. I don’t want to die and go back 15 minutes, I want to re-appear about 5 minutes back at the most, otherwise it gets boring. That aside, it is a good game, and i’ll definatley be getting it on rental again soon.

I also came into the possession of a few MS points, and decided to spend them on arcade games, rather than RB songs for once, and I think I made a good choice. Firstly I picked up Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved, after being told it was a bit of a challenge, and I like challenges, or more specificly, obtainable challenges (more on this later). I love this game, and am almost addicted to it. The randomness of the enemies is kind of a blessing is disguise as well. Sometimes, you can get absolutley raped before you even reach 5,000, and sometimes you can have a clear run all the way up to 140,000 (my highest 1st death so far). Unfortunatley, when a lot of enemies appear on screen, it becomes somewhat of a clusterfuck, meaning you can’t differenciate between you, your bullets, enemies, and shards of enemies. Muchos confusing, but muchos fun.

I also picked up Banjo Kazooie, a game originally released for the N64 10 years ago. I never really played the original, but i’d heard how good it was and intended to play it one day. It’s 1200 points on the arcade (just under a tenner) so it’s roughly the same price as buying the game for the N64. For a 10 year old game, it holds up really well, a couple of the graphics have been smoothed out which is nice, and obviously all the text dialogue has to be changed to go with the 360 controls. Rare have done this really well, but I feel that maybe I should have played it when it first came out, as I get the feeling I missed out on a truley great game at it’s peak, and i’m now just playing a very good game. I still love it though.

I’ll give a run down of some more games at a later date, but I have a better post idea coming on.

Rock Band 2

So it’s been about a month since my last update, and with christmas just around the corner, I feel now is as good time as any to roll out a few updates.

The first one kicks off with Rock Band 2, the sequel to the highly popular Rock Band. The original is one of my favourite ever games, and so RB2 was always going to have a challenge on it’s hands to beat it. In truth, it doesn’t beat the original, but it does its damn best to get close to it. The song list is fantastic, with some real challenges (Painkiller, Panic Attack and Visions) and the gameplay is awesome, but sadly, the tour mode is not as good as the first. I really liked being able to scroll down the setlist and see which songs I had goldstars on, and which I didn’t, but now I have to open up several different screens or rely purely on score to find it out. This is not good, it just makes it more complex.

I’m very happy that the Endless Setlist is now a single player option as well, as that’s something that was missing from the first game. I know it was available in MP, but when no-one around plays to a high level, it’s kinda hard to organise. I managed to clear the ESL on my first attempt without failing any songs, but did pause a few times to catch a breather. I knew I wouldn’t get the bladder of steel first attempt, so I paused during the first song to save any dissapointment later on. I finished with 413/420 stars which was nice, only failing to 4 star Visions, and missing 5 stars on Battery, Shoulder to the Plow, Get Clean, Chop Suey and Girls Not Grey.

I have now 5 starred Chop Suey, Girls Not Grey and Get Clean, so only a few songs remain. Sadly I don’t think I’ll get close to the level of success I had in RB1 (54/58 Goldstars) but I’ll damn sure try my best to get close. The songs are a lot harder, which is a good thing as I was beggining to find some of the Tier 8 stuff on RB1 as easy as I used to find medium difficulty after 2 weeks play. I’m also positive that I will not 5 star Visions for a good while yet, I just can’t hold a rhythm on the sod. Getting close on Panic Attack and Painkiller though, only 30k away on each

I’m sure there’ll be an update sometime in the new year as to how i’m getting on, but right now I feel that’s enough for one post, the next should be almost as detailed, once i’ve decided what it’ll be.

Birthday 24/11

22. Hoo-fucking-ray.

Guitar Hero: World Tour…..oh dear

So today saw the release of the much anticipated Guitar Hero: World Tour. This is Activision/Neversofts 3rd game in the series, following on from the 3 Harmonix titles. It is also the first time Guitar Hero has gone for the full band aspect. This is not entirely suprising seeing how much sucess Rock Band has had, however, maybe they should have just stuck with the guitar.

To say this game isn’t very good, well, is actually giving it praise. I’ve played every single version of GH up to this date, and this is the first one that has made me almost stop playing. The tracklisting may look awesome, but when you’re mainly a guitar player, it’s annoying to see so many dreary songs. I can count on 1 hand the amount of songs that gave me even the smallest bit of a test. Yes there were fewer on RB, but those songs were actually FUN, and I still play most of them now. The only songs I want to play on GH:WT again are Never Too Late and B.Y.O.B on bass.

Yes I understand they wanted to make it a more available game to everyone but christ, at least leave something in that provides some form of a big challenge. Raining Blood, DWDTG, TTFAF, GG&HT, Freebird, Bark at the Moon, Panic Attack, Painkiller. These are challenging songs, the first three are rediculous on hard, let alone expert. Yes, GH:WT has Satch Boogie with it’s 1 minute 4 note sweeps, but when I finish playing, I feel like I have to buy my guitar dinner, and that’s not a feeling I enjoy.

Now for the note charts, some of them are so far off the track, it’s stupid, and coupled with the fact that you can barely hear the guitar in some songs means you have no idea what rythym you’re meant to play. This is especially true with B.Y.O.B’s intro, and most of Assassin.

I really wanted to like this game, because I love the GH series, but when the tracks are dull, the charts are seemingly a mish mash, and an easier difficulty was added (yes, easier than easy) it just makes it really hard. Sorry Activision, but this is going straight back to where it came from, and as far as i’m concered, it can damn well stay there. Roll on Rock Band 2.

Fable 2

Now, be aware, because there are going to be spoilers here, and a fair few at that, so if you don’t want to know anything about the game, I suggest you stop reading now, and come back another day. And just incase.

************SPOILERS*************************SPOILERS*************

Right, lets get started.

So yes, I finally gave into the Fable 2 hype machine and bought it on Friday, and I don’t regret it one bit. I love this game, one of my favourites so far this year. It’s so simple, yet so brilliant. There are some bit’s i’m not a huge fan of, but they’ll come later.

The story starts with you as a small child walking around a town, needing to complete a few errands to continue. The errands give you enough money to be able to buy a small music box, which you are told will be able to get you into the castle. When you wind the music box up however, not all goes to plan. The music box vanishes, but somehow, you are transported to the castle anyway. Here you meet up with Lucien, who is the ruler of the castle. Unknown to you, he already knows who you are, and asks you and your sibling to step on a plate in the room. He then tells you that your sibling is worthless to him, and he shoots and kills them. He then moves onto you, telling you that somehow, you are one of the fabled heros, and after briefly talking to you, shoots you aswell, making you fall out the very high window.

You are found by a mysterious woman, who leads you to a gypsy camp for them to take care of you. Several years pass, and you resume playing as a much older character. The premise from here is that you must locate the three other heroes to help you take out Lucien and avenge the death of you sibling. As grand as this all sounds, the story of the game lasts about 6-7 hours without including sidequests. The ending of the story is very abrubt as well, after you have the third hero, there is very little time between starting and ending the final quest, which ultimatley ends with a single gunshot. While simple and effective on a plot basis, I feel it could have had more to it.

Once you have killed the villain, you are given three choices at the end, each responding to a fate card, Sacrifice, Love, and Wealth. You may choose only one, either saving everyone who died in the contruction of the ultimate spire, where the final confruntation took part, saving your loved ones, including you sibling and dog, or money, leaving all who have died where they are.

When the story has ended, you are free to roam around Albion, finishing off whatever side quests you still have left, and achievements as well. You will still be attacked constantly wherever you go, but it’s easier know without having to worry about quests. This does lead me to another point, which i’m unsure of. Death, you can’t actually die, you just get knocked out and lose exp. The good side of this is that you don’t keep having to re-do ares due to being killed, and your not constantly healing. However, it means there’s no tactic in battle, and you can just go hell for leather the whole time with no repurcussuions.

A final nigling point is that when one of your friends is nearby, they appear as a little green blob. While this is good to see where they are, when you are doing mini games and there’s a little blob in your way, it gets a bit distracting.

But you know what, the bad points don’t spoil this game for me one bit, I loved every second of it, and would happily have my mind erased so I could play it all over again.

************END SPOILERS*************************END SPOILERS*************

Right, that’s the spoilers over, and as there’s nothing more to say except a quick summary;

Good game, buy it, thank me later.

Horray for injuries

So i’ve buggered my knee up. Not seriously but it hurts when pressure is put on it. I have now learnt that when pushing a wheelbarrow towards a ramp, make sure it’s at the right angle, otherwise it’ll stop, launching you into it full speed. Suffice to say, when you then spend 2 hours dancing none stop (including Jive (double pain)) it kinda gets worse.

It’s not the first time i’ve hit an immovable object at speed. When I was about 12 I went full speed into the back of a parked car on my bike. Now, on bikes (as i’m sure you’re aware) there is a small vertical bar leading to the handle bars, and as a male, I have certain features that hate pain. So when these two collide, the result is unpleasant. Yippee for stupidity

On the plus side, even though it hurt, dancing was really enjoyable, and was told that we (me and my girlfriend) were in fantastic shape to do our medal test in a few weeks time. Only bronze but it’s better than nothing, and it means that i’ll have achieved the same amount of awards in 1 year of dancing as I did in 12 years of football, hmmm.

Oh, and any guy who wants to call me a bit gay for dancing, you’ve clearly never seen some of the ladies that do it

Fable 2/Dead Space

So having convinced myself that i’m not going to get pulled in by Fable and buy it on release, and instead wait for my birthday, i’ve given in and will hopefully be picking it up tomorrow. God my willpower is weak. Most of my fellow bloggers (Davey, Nokkon and Haly) will all be playing it as well, so we can all mess about in eachothers worlds. Hell, I may even steal Nokkons wife.

Having played the first one about 2 years ago, I can’t really remember a hell of a lot about it, but with the second being set 500 years into the future, and don’t think it’ll make a huge amount of difference to the story. At least, I hope not.

Unfortunatley, I don’t really have a spare £40 lying around, so chances are, i’m gonna have to bite the bullet with some old games, and hope they get me to at least half the cost. Problem being, the newest game I own is Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, which will be worth about a tenner now, and the rest of my games are all in the region of a year old, or were presents, and I just can’t sell presents.

Moving onto Dead Space, I love the look of this game. The graphics look awesome, the audio sounds awesome, the location is awesome, the enemies look awesome, the dis-memberment is awesome. Everything about this game is awesome, save for one thing. It’s a jumpy game, and i’m a bloody coward.

My problem is that due to a very, very active imagination, I can conjure up almost anything, so if I see a 6 armed monster with 3 legs and 14 eyes in a video game, it’s damn sure gonna be in my head for the rest of the night. This is my problem with Dead Space, even though the creatures don’t have 6 arms, 3 legs and 14 eyes, they still look scary as hell. If I play this, I will get scared, I will jump, and I will probably shit my pants. Unfortunatley, that’s the way i’m designed, heck, I STILL haven’t completed the Condemned demo, even though i’ve seen numerous videos of it and know what happens when.

Back to Dead Space, it’s a game that really interests me, but sadly, what with being a coward, i’ll probably never even get as far as taking it to the counter in a shop, let alone completing it. I’ve seen probably some of the most jumpy parts, so hopefully in a years time when i’ve watched the levels over and over, and could tell someone exactly how to do what backwards, I may have the guts to buy it, but sadly, I fear i’m destined to be a coward.

Halo 3 – Meta-game finished

Well that was rather tedious. Playing through all the levels wasn’t so bad (except the peultimate one) but getting the fine balance of skulls right so that the enemies were never too hard, but would provide enough points. In the end, I just decided to stick on about 6 skulls, giving me a 10x multiplyer, meaning I never really had to worry about time. I was averaging 2x the required score on each level, including the 50k ones, which I got at least 100k on.

The only problem is that at the start, I had the silver skulls on as well, except Blind. As some of you may know, one of these skulls makes explosions bigger…not smart when the enemy are throwing nades every 5 seconds. So that was quickly turned off, and it made everything so much easier. Aside from that, nothing ever really became difficult.

The only achievements left in the original 1k are the online ones, which isn’t too bad, so I can do them quite easily, then hopefully I can get the Vidmaster achievements for doing the final level with the iron skull on legendary, but i’ll have to find some friends to help out with that. Nokkon has already agreed to help, and i’m thankful, providing he doesn’t use the shotgun again….