I feel compelled to express some thoughts about MGR-Revengeance, which I am very dissatisfied with, not only because of the reasons we are trying to specify as follows:
-The characters are not only flat, one-dimensonal and unsympathetic, the main hero is unrelatable and almost nothing of the MG universe has been utilized for this story. The constant mentioning of the Patriots is a cheap reminder of MGS4. Even the new characters seem more like caricatures than fleshed out creations, they hardly interact in the few story sequences and the whole cyborg angle makes it almost impossible to envision another proper MGS in the regular Solid Snake timeline. Even the most interesting and possibly deep character, Blade Wolf, is not nearly explored properly. The idea of a machine too human for human needs is genious, yet its not nearly told properly. What a shame for such a great character! Sam's motives aren't properly explained at all. I hear a DLC is planned, which is insane considering the importance of Sam's character within the main game. Having to complete a DLC to understand the main villain is not what MG stands for.
-Sunny as the only previous MGS character is poorly implemented and doesn't fit into the game at all. Her role could have been executed by any other protagonist just as well.
-Telling most of the stroy through codec seems cheap and is ultimately boring. I loved Codec before but after Revengeance I am beginning to hate ist. So much techno-babble, so little real point to it!
-The settings are plain boring and dull, the regular enemies almost ridiculously designed. Why go to Mexico only for a techno-sewer? Why evacuate Denver just so that no people have to be there?
-The graphics (at 720p, come on!!! MGS 4 was in Full HD five years ago!) are a joke, there are clipping and frame rate issues all the time, the Denver part looks like PS2 and metal walls show reflections of things that are not even in the same vicinity. There is no proper lighting engine robbing the game of any lifelike or remotely reaslistic appearance. MGS2 had better lighting and ambience than this!
-There is no lip synchronicity neither in the codec sequences nor in some in-game demos (Sam talking to Jack through the billboards in Denver!). MGS has always set a standard in terms of coherence and cinematic presentation, this game is a shadow of that promise for no reason whatsoever!
-While the hard rock music might have been a good idea at first, it is pushed so far in the game that I feel like a 15 year old in the middle of puberty playing the game. MG is worth more than this cheap imitation of a soundtrack. Where are the emotions, where is the tension and where the hell is the style?!?
-The voice acting falls flat this time around, even with Kris Zimmermann Salter involved. Quninton Flynn overacts Raiden almost into ridiculousness, Sundowner is more funny than threatening and George is hard to listen without your eyes closed. While Doktor and especially Blade Wolf are very well voiced, Doktor's appearance takes all realism away from the character and Wolf itself is rarely present or relevantly integrated into the story. Such a shame!
-Although realizing MGR being an action game and a departure from the regular series, I find it much too fast, hard and not at all rewarding. I do like the Zandatsu engine, it is quite cool to cut enemies like that, but it is too fast to give the player a true feeling of proper control and the combat rankings are so hard to beat that I constantly feel like a loser or idiot. I am not a bad gamer and at least I have cleared MGS 4 in its highest difficulty, in that game I had numerous moments of gratification and pride from defeating enemies and situations, which is a feeling I never ever got from Revengeance. Furthermore, the cool feeling of cutting "cyborgs" in half counteracts the feeling that someone doing that should in fact have: Guilt and remorse, a melancholic sadness and gravitas that gave the previous MGS-installments their proper impact and which this game terribly lacks. This is even discussed storywise in the Denver chapter, leading Jack to embrace his perverse nature completely and to keep slaughtering rather than changing himself for the better or at least properly questioning his approach. "Time to let her rip"?!?. What the hell is that about? After all, isn't MGS an anti-war game series? Don't get me wrong: I am not exactly a bleeding heart pacifist and I recognize the need for both a military and sometimes the use of force, but senseless killing is nothing I would like to endorse. The gaming industry has to recognize its responsibility concerning that with our without school massacres and I have my doubts that Platinum games have given it proper thought. Violence should not be portrayed as fun, not because some conservatives or reactionary media tell us it shouldn't, but because both a game and we as players shouldn't need to do it to that degree. It all depends on setting, while it might be OK in Dead Space, it feels quite barbaric here in MGR.
-SPOILER!!! Finally, the Pakistan part of the game featuring Metal Gear Excelsus and the Senator are a true travesty and a slap in the face for MGS fans like me. Excelsus is never even mentioned before, there is nothing but a cheap and highly illogical explanation for its existence and it does nothing but hurt the legacy of previous Metal Gear Tanks which, after all, give the whole series its name! Senator Armstrong is such a caricature I couldn't believe what I was seeing when I faced and defeated him. What this kind of character is doing in a series that has spawned Video game villains so three-dimensional most screenwriters can only dream of creating the likes of them in a flimic medium is beyond me. Taking Liquid Snake, The Boss, Ocelot, Mantis, Olga, Volgin or many others and comparing them to the Winds of Destruction and especially Armstrong is like day and night, they are not even in the same universe IMHO.
I know how much labour went into the game, how many people probably worked their butts of and that they tried to give it their best. However, I do not believe that the direction they took and the decisions they made were optimal. If there is a successor to this spin-off, I would like to encourage everyone to reevaluate what made and makes the Metal Gear series great and to include this into future installment in much more detail: The great characters, the fantastic and elaborate, relevant stories and the fine-tuned gameplay housed in a proper technical presentation. None of these is sufficiently present in Rising: Revengeance, I believe. The Phantom Pain will probably make Rising look like a student project concerning almost every aspect. I knew Mr Kojima creates Gold standards with most of his games but the difference in quality between MGS and MGR is staggering. To be completely honest, I don't enjoy to play this game very much, sadly!

Just in: DLC 1 "Jetstream Sam": What a moronic DLC! Advertised as a story DLC this episode covers almost nothing of Sam's motives. It shamelessly recycles the Blade Wolf fight, the Metal Gear Ray confrontation, the Mexico sewer system (now in Denver!) and countless enemies from the main game itself. It has the same shortcomings of the main game as well: sterile look and feel, no atmosphere whatsoever and moronic music all way through. I only wisch I could get my ten bucks back instead of having to spend my time playing through this crap! There is another DLC on it's way, this time featuring Blade Wolf. This time I will not for for it, though. I sincerely hope that MG:Rising will in fact not spawn a new spinoff series for MGS, because the more I play it the more I really start to loathe it. This piece should not even be allowed to carry the name Metal Gear!

Unlike many critics as well as other reviewers I appreciate the new direction the developers have taken with the game having it take place mainly on a frozen planet with snowstorms and sometimes even whiteouts. A successful game series doesn't just repeat itself and after the fantastisc DS1 as well as the somehow suboptimal DS2 the planetary location is a logical progression. Spacewalks are present in the first third of the game which takes place around a derelict flotilla in the planet's orbit and are more beautiful and awe-inspiring than ever. Also, the extreme darkness of DS2, in which oftentimes at least I couldn't not make out where I was or what was going one is absent this time. I never got why darkness would produce horror or terror anyway, it mainly obscured the graphics of DS2 and made further progress uneccessarily difficult.
The game is nicely paced and offers not as much over-the-top action as some reviewers point out, and even DS1 had many overkill moments which also didn't hurt the game. The distribution of enemies is both fairer and more diverse than in DS2, and the new weapon crafting system is a nice addition. On the pro side there are the most beautiful graphics I have ever seen in a game and, for the first time in the DS series, a proper soundtrack mainly attributable to the fact that aside from Jason Graves' dull and atonal cacophony another composer was brought in: James Hannigan. His contributions suit the game much better and I can only hope that his involvement will continue in future entries of the series.
On the negative side I absolutely hate the new autosave feature which takes all the control out of your hands, sometimes saving every five minutes and then not for more than an hour. The game contains around ten optional missions through which no saving occurs, so you have to bring lots of time before starting such a mission because you have to finish it in oder to have your progress saved. Why the developers chose to both disemancipate the player like that as well as chopping the game up in a regular mission plot with optional missions is also very questionable in my opinion. Furthermore, the core game itself is designed to be played either alone or with a CO-OP friend, which puts some restictions on the game design which the predecessors didn't have to adhere to. Also, anticipating to play this game in 10 years or so with no one around to join in and certainly no servers anymore many story moments will be lost from a certain point onwoard, which is another unnecessary flaw deeply rooted in (not only this) game's core design.
In a nutshell, the game offers great atmosphere, setting, graphics and sound but has questionable core design choices and sometimes tends to take liberties away from the player, in that being a typical EA brand game. Also, it is more than twice as long as DS1, which is too long in my opinion. A substantial amount of its length is created via the sometimes very repetitive optional missions, which shouldn't have been expanded to this amount of gameplay time, I believe. Furthermore, the extreme DLC fixation with so many suits and weapons only available as downloads I also constantly feel like I am missing something. Personally I buy games for the long run and would like to enjoy them as a complete experience many years down the road. The current development in the industry however runs completely contrary to that, creating DLCs, downloads and forcing CO-OP on the gaming community, rendering the complete experience later on almost certainly impossible. A sad development only to appeal to fire-and-forget gamers and the greedy game company executives themselves, but certainly not to the creative forces of games or the most loyal core gamers. DS3 sadly is absolutely no exception to that development.
After plying the DS series since 2008 and now having finished this installment I can only hope that after the catastrophe that was Resident Evil 6 Capcom either catches up to the quality DS offers or take whatever pride there is left and finally cancel the RE series for good. As a fan of survival horror I absolutely prefer to get my fix from DS and especially this great game which I can only recommend to anyone interested in the subject.

I am a fan of the original Total Recall but this one steals the show for me. The stylistic aspect of this iteration is fantastic and lightyears ahead of Paul Verhoeven's approach. The DP Paul Cameron created an incredible style like he did with Collateral for Michael Mann in 2004. Furthermore, the film is edited by Christian Wagner, a frequent collaborator of the late genius Tony Scott. The story of this new version is pretty different from 1990 and, in my opinion, both more accessible and coherent. The acting is great as are the incredible visual effects. Harry Gregson-Williams created a wonderful score infusiong the picture with a tremendous amount of drive. While I really like the original, I find it to have heavy pacing issues and quite frequently taking itself too seriously. Len Wiseman's version does not suffer from these mistakes and immerses the viewer in a great mix between Ridley Scott's Blade Runner and Steven Spielberg's AI and Minority Report. I completely disagree with most negative comments made around here and encourage everyone appreciating visual artistry, pacing and creativity to give this movie a try! As a SciFi fan I currently can't believe my luck after so many years of no proper SciFi material being released theatrically and now getting this kind of gem. 5 stars easily, if only Len Wiseman's other pictures were that good!

I couldn't imagine RE 6 being the failure it turned out to be. I love and own most of the RE games and thought that after Capcom's disorientation with the fifht installment the next chapter would recapture the genius of RE 4. I was very wrong. The fact that it took me over a month to muscle up the masochism to finish this abomination says it all.
The game itself is pseudo-partitioned into 4 storylines: Leon, Chris, Jake and Ada. Leon's chapter is supposed to feel like classic evil, but ends up just being boring, annoying and involuntarily funny. The best chapter by far is Chris', while it might not be RE in the slightest it at least offers interesting character development and nicely paced, frantic action. Jake's chapter is completely idiotic with one stupid one-liner, QTE or ridiculous enemy after another. Finally, Ada's chapter feels completely out of place, has no proper coherent narrative, continues where the problems of Jake's campaign left off and culminates in a completely oblivious conclusion.
The game heavily suffers from the attempt to combine so many things into one product that each and every aspect falls short. It tries to be a shooter with stone-age mechanics, tries to be scary while all the settings suggest action and it completely lacks the feeling that made the early games as well as RE4 and maybe the Darkside Chronicles worthy entries for the series. As one of the producers put it: There is no market for pure survival horror anymore. While the creators of the Dead Space franchise, while aiming for more action in recent years as well, prove otherwise, Capcom should either decide to respect and honour what RE should stand for or at least leave it with the small amount of dignity it has left.
Even aside from all the stylistic criticism, the stupid gameplay mechanics, the embarrassing plot, the phony characters and the mind-bogglingly stupid skill system I cannot get over the technical presentation of the game. RE 5 looks way better than RE 6 and the graphics, the camera, even the dreadful soundtrack of RE 6 are so annoying it defies description. And that in by far the longest game of the whole series for so many fans to suffer through! Finally, the difficulty is so high it drives you crazy. Maybe I am too old for this, but I have rarely been banged around like I have in this game in NORMAL mode! And taking away the last shred of fun are the thousands of QTEs, which make you die over and over for no reason!
Summed up: I had such high expectations for the game and was sure they would be met that I feel shocked about the final product. I recommend any fan of RE to give this game a try, but I implore Capcom not to go down the road of first RE 5 and now RE 6 further. Please find back to what made RE great in the first place, go for quality instead of quantity and listen to the fans. Otherwise, the margin in quality to other games like Dead Space will be to great for people to consider buying RE anymore and they will have killed off one of the most prestigious series of all time! I HATE THIS GAME!!!

As much as I hated the movie Battleship I really enjoy and love its soundtrack by Steve Jablonsky. It is powerful, energetic, blaring and just plain cool. Any fan of semi-synthesized orchestral movie scores should give this a listen. If only the movie itself were that good!

As someone who has worked with Vangelis and Hans Zimmer for much of his carreer Ridley Scott has found a recent collaborator in Marc Streitenfeld who scored his last five movies including Prometheus. I often wonder what he sees in him, to be honest. It is not that I despise his scores, but Streitenfeld's work is just so inferior to Vangelis and Zimmer that I can not understand why he is Ridley's go-to-guy nowadays. I can only speculate what another composer would have done with the material, but Prometheus, while being a fantastic movie, could have been much better given a proper score. I am afraid though this isn't it. Streitenfeld again delivers a largely forgettable soundtrack like with his previous ones. I don't mean to be personal, I just think with a film like "A goog Year" Streitenfeld might be able to pull of a nice little score, but with "Robin Hood" and "Prometheus" he is just out of his league. Considering that Ridley Scott is planning a sequel to Blade Runner I sincerely hope that he finds another composer for it. Matching the quality and status of Vangelis' score to the 1982 original will prove almost impossible to begin with and Streitenfeld will surely not be able to pull it off (again)...

With some people complaining that the show suffers from didactic deficiencies I want to focus more on the presentation aspect: The presentation is spine-chillingly solid in terms of astonishing HD material, the editing, the pacing and especially the fantastic soundtrack. The series weaves a great narrative pulling in the viewer very effectively, gives a proper historical overview without drowning the viewer in detail and is fitted with the perfect soundtrack by genius japanese composer Kenji Kawai. Almost all of the footage incorporated has been CAREFULLY colorized and it's impact emphasized through eliminating the feeling of distance and artificiality generally conveyed by a pure black-and-white presentation. The sound effects are very fitting and give the whole presentation just the right amount of gravitas.
Comparing this series to the Gold Standard "The World At War" the most important thing to mention is that another kind of approach was taken here. While TWAW was made up like a book and mostly delt like a school lesson, "Apocalypse" tries to impress and wow the viewer. What's wrong with that? While Laurence Olivier delivered a fantastic commentary filling the gaps between original interviews, "Apocalypse" doesn't feature interviews and instead tries to keep the pace moving. The commentary itself, while not being as sophisticated as that of TWAW is properly done and fits the program nicely.
All in all, a documentary on WW2 should not only educate on an intellectual level, but also involve a viewer emotionally through its presentation and style. While TWAW is the best for getting the facts, Apocalypse is superior in terms of sheer impact through visuals and style. Again, I cannot find anything wrong with that! I own both shows and find them to complement each other perfectly!

With this album Steven Dolby succeeds in reviving the smooth and relaxed 80s sound. Similar to the coolness of Jan Hammer this album offers a very gentle, atmospheric, synthetic soundscape. I myself love this sound and am generally puzzled why in the last 20 years no one has produced this kind of sound anymore. Anyone who enjoys the works of Jan Hammer, Peter Guja or the Youtube phenomenon Majami Hiroz should really get this album. Sadly this album is also only available as a download. If you consider who else has a record contract and for what...

As a fan of the Youtube series Majami Hiroz I had especially enjoyed the accompanying soundtrack, most of which as I soon discovered was contained in this very album.
As a young composer Peter Guja manages to repeat with this sadly download-only album what Jan Hammer and Tim Truman accomplished with their monumental soundtracks to Michael Mann's cult TV show Miami Vice: A melancholic, cool, synthetic, ambient sound with loads of style and soul. As an avid fan of these cult composers I could hardly believe what Guja delivered here: Practically every track of his debut album is an EASY match to the inspiring originals, I am serious! For days now I have listened to it and won't get tired from enjoying and reminiscing. Every fan of the music of Miami Vice or the 80s in general should give this album a listen. Jan Hammer and Tim Truman have found a perfect successor or imitator in Guja. The fact that he does not seem to have a proper record contract and this album is only available as a download is an outrage. I feel obliged to absolutely and massively recommend this album!

While DS2 is a fantastic survival horror game, I still prefer DS1 due to several aspects. First, the mood of DS1 was far superior, Titan station just can't compete with the Ishimura. Furthermore, the art direction of the game and thus the whole look is inferior to DS1 not in terms of polygons but from a design standpoint. The game itself relies far too much on darkness and disorientation for my personal taste. The gameplay itself is somewhat improved, but unfair parts are now much more common with hordes of enemies pummeling the player and the whole experience becoming more of a repetetive task than before. The soundtrack is worse than that of DS1, if that is even possible. Story sequences are now more detailed and cinematic, yet the sense of urgency that DS1 provided is somehow less palpable. All in all, DS1 was almst impossible to top, and that is exactly what happend. DS2 is a really fantastic game that fails to surpass its incredible predecessor. 4.5 stars, a sure thing to own.