Agnostic Front

I haven't listened to this in a while. So good.

Tomb Raider Legend 360 Review

You've come a long way baby. I'm not talking Laura Croft. She'll always be the same gun toting, bar swinging, ledge jumping Tomb Raiding chic she's been since day one. I'm talking Tomb Raider. The OG Tomb Raider was such an innovation in game design who knew it would spawn so many uninspired sequels. I am happy to report that the franchise is stagnating* no more! This new Tomb Raider is a return to former glories. It is actually More of a sequel to the original game than so many of the let downs that preceded the original.

I'm into it. I was into the original but had issues with the shoddy controls and ugly textures. Tomb Raider Legend is a huge improvement over all previous TR titles in this department. TR Legend has returned to the classic trick jumping uber exploration game dynamic of old with much updated graphics and a simple streamlined user interface. The UI is hidden when not pertinent which has the benefit of letting you behold the games rich visuals in all their glory. Fans of the Prince of Persia series will instantly feel at home. I know I did.

The story isn't too deep but keeps you interested and was written to let you play various stages around the globe. I wasn't really interested in seeing what would happen next, but rather where I would be adventuring next. That's not a fault; this is an action platformer so a deep plot isn't really required to make this game great.

This game turned out to be a pleasant surprise. It was totally not on my radar and totally just fell into my lap. My only complaint is that the game is kind of short being only about 15 hours at the most (depending on your Tomb Raiding skills). Still, I'm going to give it an 8.5/10. We'll see if Crystal Dynamics can keep it up with a sequel. Who knows; they could kill it again. Until then Tomb Raider will be a living Legend.

Comics into Movies

The last few years have brought some great movies. Well, maybe it just seems that way seeing how bad the early/mid 90's we're for movies. It's not just because movie making has gotten better. In fact it's because the people making movies have realized that they should leave the story telling to the experts. The experts being comic makers ! I'm not just talking men-in-tights super powered goodness, X-men and Spiderman are just dandy. In fact they we're better that I thought they would be, even Hellboy! Don't get me wrong, there we're some duds: Hulk, Punisher (both films) and I wasn't that into Fantastic Four. No, I'm talking the goodness of Alan Moore or Brian Michael Bendis-ish style books.

After seeing a few really good comic to movie transitions I started thinking about what I'd like to see. Sandman would be good, as would Preacher. Transmetropolitan seems like it would work on many levels and I read on somewhere that the Watchmen is in the planning stages. Things are looking good on the comic turned movie front !

Movies based on popular games have been a different story. Mario Brothers. Street Fighter. Mortal Kombat. Wing Commander. Resident Evil. Doom. Even the great Final Fantasy was weak. Yet, there is hope. Silent Hill looks it might be the first to break the Hollywood game curse. Even Halo looks promising with Peter Jackson onboard to prevent disaster. We've had a rocky start, but game based movies can only get better. Right?

New Vault series VANS 2006

The Vault series never fails to impress, this season is no different. I have tracked down a few pairs, but I have not seen these anywhere yet. All canvas and what looks like a jute weave. The last few years everyone has been using alot of different textures with very positive results. What's next?