Review: Insidious

Insidious (2011)

Genre: Horror

Format: DVD

Director: James Wan

When it comes to horror movies, nothing is more insidious than poor execution and even poorer story concept so it is quite fitting that this movie is called Insidious. The screenwriter/actor Leigh Whannel is back in an attempt to write something better than the first three Saw movies and failed miserably. To be fair, he did okay with Dead Silence... at least for the second half of the movie. A note to James Wan - you don't have to direct everything that Whannel writes. It's time to fly solo, my friend.

Insidious is a confused mess of ideas that never really takes off because it wants to be so many things. Is it a tale of a haunted house? Is it a superhero story? Is it a ghost story? Is it science fiction? Is it a dark fantasy? Is it a spiritual exploration? Heck if I know. Is it a bad movie? Oh yes it is. Basically, a little boy went into a coma after falling down a broken ladder. The doctor was not able to explain to his parents the cause of his comatose state - perhaps a concussion maybe doc? - and it was later revealed that it had something to do with the separation between the body and the soul. Oh brother. The film takes on this theme very seriously and that is all and well if not for the extremely uneven pacing and betrayed potentials. The first half of the movie was filled with a thick atmosphere of dread and there were definitely some truly horrifying moments when you get to see little fragments of spiritual beings manifesting themselves on screen. The second half of the movie went all out crazy with showing us what it means to be on the other side of the veil beyond the physical realm, a place that makes little to no sense even according to the film's own established rules. A note to Whannel - if you ran out of ideas midway while writing a screenplay, perhaps its best to start fresh with a new one.

If Wan and Whannel really wanted to make more money, here's an idea for them: Why not team up to make more Saw films? It feels a bit empty this year now that the Saw films have been discontinued. Since the sequels have been very, very successful, it seems like a good place for the duo to go back to. Then again, perhaps the franchise should be revived by more capable hands. The two out of five rating is for Lin Shaye flat-out stealing the show as a medium in what is definitely one of the worst horror movies ever made.

RATING: 2 out of 5

Preview: The Lord of the Rings - War in the North

The Lord of the Rings: War in the North (2011)
Developer: Snowblind Studios
Platform: Personal Computer
Induction Date: 11/01/2011

I didn't pay much attention to The Lord of the Rings: War in the North during its development phase because it looked like another generic LotR action game like the ones released by Electronic Arts during the height of the movie franchise's hype. A couple of weeks ago, I found out that the game was actually being developed by Snowblind Studios who were responsible for the outstanding Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance and the Norrath-inspired dungeon crawlers I have played on the PlayStation 2 and my excitement level went up. The game could have opted for the top down view similar to all of their past action role playing games but with War in the North, the developer is opting for a more stylish and modern presentation while keeping true to the familiar mechanics that has made their former games quite addicting to play.

It's time to hate on all things orcs and goblins all over again.

The game's story is a separate tale that occurs concurrently to the events in The Lord of the Rings trilogy and this is of course, a great thing as it brings with it a fresh perspective into something that most of us are probably very familiar with at this point in time thanks to those epic movies by Peter Jackson. It all starts off with a meeting in Bree between Aragon and the three playable characters: Eradan the Dúnadan Ranger, Farin the Dwarf Champion, and Andriel the Elven Lore-master. You are soon tasked to create a diversion for the forces of evil to distract them from Frodo and the gang. The game features a branching conversation system when you are talking to the non-player characters and these interactions are fully voiced. The way that the camera moves back and forth between the participants during the dialogs reminds me of a Bioware RPG but without the morality system. The NPCs are engaging enough, thanks to the good voice acting. I have only played about 2-3 hours of the game and the structure seems linear but you do get sub-quests to complete alongside the story missions.

Don't ask me where the dwarf's right hand is...

War in the North is an action RPG and that translates into fast paced, action-oriented battles with RPG-based character progression. All the characters have the ability to attack with both melee and ranged weapons, with the latter played marvelously in an over the shoulder third person perspective, but they gain access to very specialized skill sets that are broken down to three skill trees. Whenever your character levels up, you will gain access to attribute points to improve your character's base statistics and one point to spend on the skill tree. I have spent most of my time playing Andriel in both melee and range capacities. I prefer the game's melee combat because of the responsiveness of the controls. The game can be a button masher, especially during large skirmishes but the characters' unique special abilities, which come with cool-downs, do spice things up a lot. There are also critical moves that can be performed on a dying enemy and it is fun to do so - chopping your enemies into little pieces is always exciting - as it is beneficial because of the extra experience points given when triggered.

Equipping gears alters your character's look. Hope there are plenty of gear varieties in the game.

War in the North can be played with 2 other players via LAN and the Internet or with computer companions. I have only tried the online play briefly and it looks like you can use your offline characters for the multiplayer mode. Interestingly, you can choose to save your online progression on a separate save file but I am not sure why anyone would do that. When playing with the computer allies, you can only switch characters between stages and though the changes you have made to each class is saved, they will not be applicable to your computer companions. For example, say you are playing the Ranger and have equipped him with a certain set of armor and abilities, when you switch to say the Champion, the computer will customize the Ranger with its own set of armor and abilities. The computer allies are smart enough but it would have been great to provide them with your own individual choices of visual alterations and statistical boosts that you have given to a particular character when you are not playing him or her. Overall though, the game is a lot of fun if you are into the genre. I haven't mentioned that the action maps are filled with a lot of crates, barrels, and treasure chests to satisfy all of your looting needs. It is apparent that the PC version is not the game's lead platform since there are a lot of unholy looking low-resolution texture works. Still, there are plenty of visual options to play around with, which is nice to see and it is a solid port with nary a performance hitch with the settings maxed out on my PC. A high resolution texture pack would be great though. The PC version utilizes Steamworks - hurray - which comes with achievements and cloud save.

FIRST IMPRESSION: 4 out of 5

Games Played 10/24/2011 - 10/30/2011

- 10/24/2011 -

Dungeon Defenders - PC

Gunstar Heroes - PC

League of Legends - PC

- 10/25/2011 -

Dark Souls - PlayStation 3

Dungeon Defenders - PC

League of Legends - PC

Red Faction: Armageddon - PC

- 10/26/2011 -

Brave Story: New Traveller - PSP

League of Legends - PC

- 10/27/2011 -

Brave Story: New Traveller - PSP

Dark Souls - PlayStation 3

League of Legends - PC

- 10/28/2011 -

Dark Souls - PlayStation 3

Dracula: Origins - PC

Dungeon Defenders - PC

League of Legends - PC

Trinity: Souls of Zill O'll - PlayStation 3

- 10/29/2011 -

Dark Souls - PlayStation 3

Dungeon Defenders - PC

Trinity: Souls of Zill O'll - PlayStation 3

- 10/30/2011 -

Disney Universe - PlayStation 3

Dungeon Defenders - PC

Kirby's Return to Dream Land - Wii

PS Vita: Get Fu@#ed by Sony a Week Early!

Sony is currently offering to release the PlayStation Vita a week early for those who are willing to pre-order the "First Edition Bundle" from Amazonor Best Buy. This is a nice option is you are willing to pay an extra $100 and get a couple of neat things with it like a game, a protective case, and a 4GB memory stick. But then you are also stuck with the 3G model that really doesn't make much logical sense to own. So why the hostile title you ask? Well, ever since I learned that the Vita is going to use a flash-based technology for its physical games and a proprietary memory stick for storage, I became less thrilled by it.

That little deviant thing looks like a money-hungry Sony executive.

Please allow me to explain: the Vita could have gone for a full digital distribution route, especially with the way that it was promoting the PlayStation Network Store as one of the main features for the system - but for whatever reason, Sony decided not to do this. I find this to be totally disappointing. I do expect for full digital distribution to happen to the consoles in 2 more generations but I thought that it would be different for the handhelds because of how games are distributed for mobile phones and tablet devices. Sony is making a big mistake here. The dual approach of selling physical games plus offering a digital version for some of the titles will eventually bite them where the sun doesn't shine. The setup does make sense however when we look at the storage solution for the Vita: the special flash stick that can only be used for the Vita. Sony is greedy, we know this is true. The Vita could have come with an internal memory solution of in the typical 16GB or 32GB increments but why provide that to the customers when they could charge a ton of money from the sales of the specially made memory sticks? Remember, even the awful PSP Go had 16GB of built-in memory! Granted, each physical flash card of the games will have its own allotment of memory for saves and patches but those who rather own digitally distributed games will be in the rut when it comes to getting access to an eventually large, readily available library from the Vita itself. Sony is a complete fool to think that full digital distribution would not work for the Vita since the mobile gaming industry is really flourishing. I have a feeling that this had a lot to do with the failure of the PSP Go. The thing that Sony doesn't realize is that the reason why the Go was totally lame is because there is no way that physical games can be played on it for those who already own a lot of UMDs and newcomers to the system didn't pick it up because the PlayStation Portable scene at the time of the launch was practically dead. I have a feeling that I would end up owning a 3DS with a dual analog stick first before I get my hands on a Vita.

The Devil is in the Details!

Not too long ago, I shared my extreme excitement about the upcoming November 4th Steam release of Sonic Generations because of its Steamworks implementation and very low $29.99 price. Well, I was thinking of actually pre-ordering the game today until I noticed something suspicious from the very corner of my eyes. The game is shown as being developed by a company called Devil's Details. What?! Who the heck are these guys? Apparently the Personal Computer version is being outsourced instead of being handled by Sonic Team or their typical cohorts. This even sparked an interesting forum thread on Steam. I went to the developer's website - glad to know they at least have one - to check out the gaming history behind this UK-based company. The accomplishments listed don't look very promising - Nutrition Matters? - but they have some good experience in the development process of making console games. Well, this whole thing could mean that: a) Sega went cheap and wanted a little studio to haphazardly handle the port because the main focus will be the sales from the console versions, or b) not a lot of hard work was actually required to release a good PC port thus Sega entrusted the work to these Devil's Details guys. I really hope that it is the latter but my gut feeling is telling me that I should wait for the game to be released and check out the PC gameplay when it is available. Sega can definitely help out the situation by releasing a demo for the game as well. Come on Sega, you know that you cannot mess this up.

It could have been worse. They could have hired Backbone Entertainment...