Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

"I'm sorry, do you have a plan to go with that grenade?" -Nathan Drake

I recently bought Uncharted 2 because a friend of mine wanted to be able to play online with me on the Ps3. We both didn't have any online co-op games, and after some extensive research we decided this game sounded promising. I never considered that I'd try the story mode, I'm not a shooting game fan, and they've never held my interest.

It was a fluke that I decided to try the actual game itself, and I LOVED every second of it. From the very beginning to the last chapter I was enraptured by the story. The main character is a fortune hunter, Nathan (Nate) Drake, who has given up the life. However, two old friends show up with information on Marco Polo's lost fleet and the legend of the Cintamani Stone. Nate embarks on a quest to find Shambala which supposedly holds this legendary stone.

From the second you press "Start Game" you're thrown into the action.

The opening scene has Nate waking up terribly wounded in a wrecked train car that's about to fall off a cliff. You're drawn into Nate's world of betrayal, intrigue, adventure, and excitement.

One of the best parts about this game is the fact that you never feel like you're repeating yourself. In many games you'll go to a new location and it feels the same as the previous one with just a few variations in the appearance. Every chapter you end up doing something different. Whether you're saving yourself from a falling train, to stealth missions in a museum, to swinging across a giant cliff. The gameplay doesn't get stale.

The only thing that works the same throughout the game is the gunfighting, but they managed to keep it lively enough with different formations, and the way the enemy would attack that you hardly felt fatigued from repeating the process.

The story is full of intrigue and just enough mystery you keep you interested but not confused. So many games bog you down with technical jargon and complicated names that you can get confused and lost. I never once got lost in the leaps of logic, and could easily follow and it kept me eagerly ready to continue in the story to find out more. The cast of characters were all really fun and fleshed out. Nate is a fantastic hero, I love that he manages to be both the hero and the anti-hero (because a treasure thief isn't exactly a good guy). His dry sense of humor, and his own set of morals makes him a very likeable character. The two women in his life are fun additions to the story as well, where I was expecting Chloe to just be annoying fanservice she turned out to be an interesting character. They manage to make you never sure who's side she's going to be on. And Elena's history with Nate creates a fun chemistry when they're together, and their witty banter (at the worst times) helps lighten some serious moments. Even the villain was extremely well done, they managed to make Lazarevic seem extremely evil without making him too cliche'.

The dialogue was FANTASTIC, and so was the voice acting. It was extremely easy to forget you were playing a game. The cut scenes made it feel like a movie at times, but they weren't intrusive enough to have you wondering when you'd get back to playing the actual game.

I could go on forever about how wonderful this game is. The online gameplay is really fun, but I don't have anything to compare it to so you can't count on me for that.

I'm mad at myself that I haven't played the first one, but I'll be fixing that shortly. (Ordered the first one off Amazon tonight!) I look forward to getting some backstory, and getting to know this cast of characters even more.

If you have a ps3 and you haven't played Uncharted 2, GO BUY IT NOW. Believe me. It's worth it.

"I did not tell half of what I saw, for I knew I would not be believed." Marco Polo

Kaichou wa Maid-sama! (Anime)

I started watching this series back when they first started releasing the episodes in Japan. I always enjoyed the manga, so I remember posting here about how excited I was for the anime. However, I almost didn't bother finishing, I was pretty disappointed with this show.

The story of Kaichou wa Maid-Sama! (Class president is a maid!) revolves around Misaki Ayuzawa, a female class president at the once all boy school of Seika High. Misaki makes it her task to reform the wild male student's, and make Seika a successful co-ed school. As she succeeds in her goal she gains a reputation among the male population about being the "demon president" and instills fear among them.

However, Misaki has a secret. To help support her family she works part-time at a maid cafe! When Usui, a male student from Seika finds out her secret what will she do?

I feel that everything I love about this manga fell flat in the anime. I always found the story in the manga to be cute and fun, the characters lovable, and the art lovely. In the anime, the way they presented some of the situations made it feel STUPID. The art got lost in garish colors i.e.- they chose to make the uniform jackets LIME GREEN, and the characters lost some of their depth in the transfer.

I don't think it helped that I didn't care for the music they chose either. Some of it was appropriate but after hearing it in every episode it got old relatively quickly. The voice acting was done well. In particular, I really liked Misaki's voice.

Throughout the series we watch Misaki struggle through different problems. Usui becomes an odd sort of presence in her life. He enjoys teasing her and they form an odd friendship/rivalry. Usui ends up helping her out of a lot of difficult situations, and as the series progresses Misaki has to deal with her growing feelings towards Usui.

So while we have the headstrong Misaki and the trouble making Usui with their budding romance, there are a lot of fun side characters to help flesh out the story. The manager and staff of Maid Latte are a fun addition and help support Misaki. One of my favorite characters is Aoi-chan, a 14 year old internet sensation, who is famous for being cute and adorable. (And it just so happens he's a boy with a penchant for crossdressing.)

There are so many more characters all with quirks of their own that make the story different, and entertaining.

They followed the manga story-wise for the most part. I was happy that they didn't veer off and create their own ending when it was winding down to the end. They left a lot of loose ends and it seemed to hint that they may continue the series in the future.

Overall I didn't think the anime had anything overly special going for it. It felt like generic shoujo that you can find in almost any series. If you like series like Special A, it's very similar to that.

I definitely recommend the manga over the anime. I don't know if I'd bother with watching a second season.

Home sweet home

I know not who you are, nor how I came to find you, but may I just say....Hi. How ya doin'?

Wow, it's been awhile since I posted an entry. I started writing a review on Ghost Trick months ago and then forgot to come back. I miss blogging, so I decided I'd try to get myself back into it again. I changed my layout (I got sick of the other one) -- if I wasn't so lazy I would dedicate myself to learning things I said I'd learn three years ago, and make an awesome banner to go across the top. Alas, that has yet to happen.

I thought about starting a brand new blog. Getting a fresh start. Mainly using it for reviews since that's what I started using this one for, but I hate the idea of letting this die. In September it will actually be three years since I started this (wild!) and I enjoy looking back and seeing how much I've grown as a person! (Or at least, I feel like I've grown a lot.) A lot of things have changed since I typed up that first post -- but I'll stop there at the risk of getting too mushy.

So, it's been six months since I posted last. I've stumbled upon new fandoms that have dragged me into their clutches. The worst of which being "North and South" which is a book by Elizabeth Gaskell. My mother and I watched the BBC mini series and I instantly fell in love. (Particularly with Richard Armitage, who plays John Thornton.) I proceeded to read the book which I enjoyed immensely, if not a tad less than the mini series.


I've also joined the liege of Ghost Trick fans, and tentatively I've stepped into the Hetalia fanbase. Two other fandoms slammed into me in the forms of Disney's Tangled, and Dreamworks How to Train Your Dragon. I was pleasantly surprised by both and wasn't expecting to enjoy them nearly as much as I did. (Flynn has become my favorite male Disney character.) Lately I spend a lot of time listening to the soundtracks on my Zune, enjoying the creativity they seem to inspire.

I've also been writing and drawing more. There was some time where I was too busy to do most of my hobbies, and I forgot how refreshing it is to create. It's not even that I think I'm good at these things -- it's that I enjoy them immensely and I feel happier when I do them. I'm trying to manage my time better to fit these things in.


Some exciting stuff happened the past couple months, I attended Zenkaikon for the second time this past March. One of my friends went along and we had a wicked good time. We cosplayed Ryuuji, and Taiga from Toradora! and we got to meet Todd Haberkorn. (And get a picture and autograph!) The only downside was that we didn't get Vic Mignogna's autograph, but we still got to see him which was pretty sweet. (Alas, we took no pictures together which was a total FAIL on our part.)

I also just turned nineteen, and received L.A. Noire for the Ps3 and 9 hours 9 persons 9 doors for the n Nintendo DS. I've been playing both on and off and they're pretty cool. I've been playing 999 more, and while I'm upset that I somehow managed to get my favorite character killed, I'm too curious to not finish it. I look forward to playing through it again in the future so I can get the "True Ending." WHICH I FIND IT VERY FRUSTRATING THAT I HAVE TO GET A BAD ENDING FIRST! D: I don't like bad endings!

I'm also playing the first Portal on my computer. I haven't finished it yet, but I'm SO CLOSE. I see why people love it so much. GLaDOS is hilarious with her witty (and cruel) comments.

Well, I feel I've rambled on quite enough for this post. I look forward to bringing this place back to life.

Till next time!

Heavy Rain

"How far are you willing to go for love?"

This question is the center of Heavy Rain. One of the most stressful, upsetting, thought-provoking and GREATEST games I have ever played.

There is a serial killer on the loose. All the police know is that he kidnaps children and several days later they turn up dead, drowned in rain water, with an origami animal and an orchid on their chest. This time he takes a boy by the name of Shaun Mars. Will you be able to save him in time?

You play as four characters. Ethan Mars, the father of Shaun who has already lost one of his sons to a tragic accident. Ethan receives trials from the Origami Killer challenging him to see what he's willing to do to save his son.

Norman Jayden an FBI profiler called in to help with the case. Norman has special experimental glasses called ARI to help him investigate crime scenes and struggles with some problems of his own as throughout the game.

Madison Paige a photo-journalist who suffers from insomnia. She accidentally gets herself deeply involved with the case.

Scott Shelby a retired police officer who works as a private investigator. He's currently looking into

the origami killer case.

With these four characters you slowly unravel the story and work toward a common goal. Save Shaun Mars.

The most stressful thing about this game is that every decision you make effects the outcome. Your characters can die and the story will continue without them. Every choice you make matters. Every mistake counts.

There were so many moments in this game where I had to pause and really think about what I wanted to do. The choices they give you are extremely hard to make, and caused many heart-pounding, cold sweat inducing moments. And each time I finally made my decision I was terrified it was the wrong one and that;

a) I just got Shaun killed

or

b) I got one of my own characters killed.

The reason this game is so compelling is that it's very personal. From the moment you start playing you are put in these characters lives. You're not playing as a bystander, somehow the creators manage to pull you in and make you as much a part of the story as the characters. You feel the character's emotions. Their pain, their fear, their hesitation.

The visuals are gorgeous. As I played through this game I felt more like I was watching a movie instead of playing a video game. The body language is great, the voice acting believable. Every once in awhile something might look a little funny, but it's rare and quickly fixes itself as you move on.

There are a few downsides. I had the game freeze a couple times. Nothing a restart won't fix, and since the game autosaves you shouldn't be too far off where you were. Still frustrating nonetheless. If you're not a hardcore gamer the controls can be a tad frustrating at first (even set on easy.) However, like with everything, it gets much easier as you move on.

This has to be one of the most original games I've played in a long time. There isn't anything quite like it out there. I highly recommend this game to anyone who enjoys games with deep story lines, fans of psychological thrillers/mysteries, or someone looking for something completely different.

I have one other note. This game is not meant for children. Not only is there language, violence and sexual content, but the story itself is very deep and at times can be disturbing. It's not something to be taken lightly.

Till next time.

Durarara!!

I decided to watch Durarara!! when browsing around on my myanimelist account. I was reading about the show and I was pleased to find it was made by the same gentleman who wrote Baccano! another favorite show of mine. I saw the positive reviews and decided I'd give it a shot.

Hooo, boy. What a show it is. Like Baccano!, Durarara!! has no specific plot. It's not about one particular goal. It's about a whole pile of characters and each of their stories and when their paths cross how they change each others lives. (No matter how brief the encounter might be.)

The entire story takes place in a city called Ikebukuro. Tension is mounting between three gangs and an all out war is about to come to a head. There's a slasher on the loose attacking random victims, and there's the mysterious "black rider" who's rumoured to not have a head...

The show is full of quirky characters bursting with personality, and everyone has a secret. Friendly gang leaders, sadistic deal brokers, angry bartendars, underground doctors, etc, etc. What more could you want?? Even better is that the voice actors do a fantastic job. There wasn't one voice out of place in this set. From the first episode these guys charm you and you won't be able to stop until you reach the end.

My only complaint was with the art style. While I liked the art I got frustrated with the fact that all the faces looked the SAME. With such a diverse cast in personality and age, it would have been nice for original appearances to go along with it.

However, this complaint is small and not enough to change the fact that this is one of the most original anime I have ever watched. It easily became a favorite, and in my opinion, has a very high rewatch value. I love this way of storytelling. It's refreshing to not have a predictable rerun of some anime you saw some other time with the same plotline.

Not to mention there's no spoon feeding the story with inner monologue. Always a treat to have a break from that.

There was one minor let down in the storytelling. I wasn't satisfied with the ending. It felt a tad rushed and a little too perfect for me. There were some things they left in the air -- which suited the series. Something in the ending just didn't sit well with me.

This is just another small fault in my book. It was not nearly enough to change my high opinion of the show. The adventure from episode 1 was so enjoyable and so interesting that it makes it worth it even if the ending wasn't what you were looking for.

Overall I'd give Durarara!! and 8.5 out of 10. I'll definitely be checking out future stories by Ryohgo Narita.

Peace.

It LIVES.

I'm alive, I SWEAR! Wow, I totally and utterly failed. I talk about posting more and then go months without a peep on here. Well I'm BACK, and I'm going to try to do better. Not making any promises though. Last time I made a promise on here I died for quite some time.


Last time I was on here I mentioned a bunch of projects I was starting. None of them have gotten off the ground yet. The secret project (the one I planned with a friend) had to be put on the back burner for now. We both got really busy and haven't had the time to get it off the ground.

I haven't gotten around to making my book review youtube account either. I chickened out because I'm really not comfortable in front of the camera, but I'm still tempted to give it a shot.


There is LOTS I want to post about on here though -- so in the next couple days (HOPEFULLY) I'll be putting up posts about the following --

• White Collar (My latest obsession. Finished both seasons in 2 weeks.)



• Durarara!



• The Chrissy McMullen Mysteries by Lois Greiman



• The Gentlemen's Alliance Cross



• Heavy Rain (Yes, I finally got a ps3!)



• The Bewitching Mysteries by Madelyn Alt



• Criminal Minds Season 5



• Professor Layton and the Unwound Future

Those are just some of the things off the top of my head. I'm also seriously SERIOUSLY SERIOUSLY pumped about the news of not only "Ace Attorney Investigations 2," (WOOHOO!) but the announcement for "Professor Layton VS. Phoenix Wright". I'm so very excited I can hardly contain myself!! If I wasn't getting the Nintendo 3DS before I most certainly am now! I DON'T WANT TO WAIT!!

If those two titles weren't enough to have me buzzing about like a crazed lunatic, the upcoming gaming forecast is so wonderful with titles like Ghost Trick, and Epic Mickey coming out in the Winter. And let's not forget about the impending Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword which looks FANTASTICAL.

Also, being that I was severely disappointed in the Kaichou wa Maid-sama anime I put it on hold. I don't know if I'm going to bother finishing it. I wasn't enjoying it at all. I'm currently watching an edited version of the Hellsing OVA's because a wonderful friend, who knows of my squeamish babyness about violence, spends what little free time she has editing out the freakishly violent bits. (Isn't that lovely of her?) I've only watched the first so far, but later this week we're watching the second and third. I LOVED the first. I'm looking forward to seeing the rest.

Like I mentioned above, in the time since I've last posted my brother and I bought a Ps3. I only have two games for it, Eternal Sonata (eh.) and Heavy Rain (FANTASTIC). I'm not a huge fan of M rated games (Heavy Rain being the only one I own) and I'm not overly fond of first person shooters/killing games so in some ways the system is wasted on me, but I was so thrilled with Heavy Rain that I can't regret the purchase.

I also invested in an upgrade for my lovely Kindle. Yes, that's right. I'm the proud owner of a Kindle 3. It was worth every penny. My old kindle was wonderful, but the upgrade has so many improvements! Mainly the screen just looks BETTER. It's so much clearer. Turning pages is quicker now too. The only thing I don't care for is the sliding power switch, but that's just a minor annoyance for me in particular.

One more thing, then I'm done with this post. I decided to start a tumblr account. I was playing with the idea for awhile and I finally caved. If you're interested check it out here.

Alright! That's everything for now. Hope you all had a ghoulishly merry Halloween!

I bid you adieu.

Image at the top found at Court-Records.net!

News, updates, ideas.

Since this post is totally boring have a picture of Claire Stanfield from Baccano! because he's adorable.



I felt like I should do a post explaining myself a bit. I haven't been posting much, and even though I don't know if anyone reads this I wanted to post explaining what I've been doing and what I'm planning on doing. I'm really proud of myself for keeping this active for as long as I have. I really enjoy blogging and I've learned a lot these past (almost) 2 years I've been doing this. (Holy crap, two years!) When I go back and read over past entries I'm happy to have them. I feel like I've grown as a person since I've begun this and I want to keep growing.


Anyway -- the reason my activeness has plummeted into barely a post a month is because of a couple things. First off, about 2 months ago I turned 18. (Wahoo!) Right after that a bunch of stuff happened at work and they decided to move me to the Passport office. They moved me right away and I started training. I also had to become certified which involved taking a 14 part test.


Since then I've been busy busy busy.


Besides that I have about 5 projects going on at once. A long time ago I mentioned a project that's still under wraps. My friend and I are still working on that, but I'm hoping that by mid-August we'll unveil it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'm really excited about it!



I'm also planning on starting a book review account on youtube. I'm thinking about hooking a blog with it so that people who prefer to read reviews have that choice. I don't know -- I haven't decided yet. I don't know how comfortable I'll be in front of a camera.


I also want to talk about what I plan on doing with this blog. Lately I use it as a place to post my practice reviews. I love talking about the things I watch/read/whatever. I like reviewing but I also LOVE to speculate. I'm going to continue using this blog to talk about things I'm excited about, and to post some of my wild theories about the series I'm into. I'm hoping that things are calming down and that I'll have time to post here more.

So (hopefully) in the near future I'll get these projects kicked off and I'll start posting more often again. Patience, lovies, patience. ;)