Reviews

Path of the Joker

Here are my reviews of some books and movies that I've come across. Feel free to check out past reviews by clicking on the link at the bottom of the page, and if you happen to see something you like, feel free to use the links provided.

For starters, those who loved Front Mission 3 will love this game. It has all the customization plus much better graphics. With this is added the link system and recovery backpacks.

For those who are new to this franchise, Front Mission entails turn based combat, centered around large man-operated mechs called Wanzers. The player and the computer alternate turns moving and attacking, all while trying to complete certain mission objectives. The combat is driven by the storylines, which lead your characters from stage to stage in pursuit of the truth of why they are fighting.

Though the strategic complexity of the combat is fun enough, the best part of these games is the customization of each of your Wanzers. Each piece, from arms and legs to armor type and paint scheme, is customizable, as is your pilot's abilities. This tends to absorb loads of time for those who want the perfect team, or who like to stick with a theme.

The only real sore points are the story line and pilot skills. The story is pretty much a straight line, and though it is somewhat engaging, you find yourself wishing to get to the next combat phase to test out your newly updated Wanzers.

The pilot skills, on the other hand, are very focused on specific weapon groups. Each pilot seemingly has a specialty, and their skills progress around them, no matter what weapons and roles in combat you use them for. This is very unlike FM3 which allowed progression based on how much you used a given weapon. The only saving grace to this is that FM4 allows you to purchase computer upgrades for each pilot to allow them to cross-train in other fields. Though this is nice, it takes a bit away from the RPG feel of the game.

All in all, FM4 is a wonderful addition to the Front Mission series, and I would highly recommend it to any fans of FM3. It is also worthwhile to try a rental of this out, just to see if its your style. Don't be surprised if you find yourself wasting hours finding that perfect combination of arms and armor for your next fight.

Movies & Anime

Before watching this dvd I was all in favor of its concept. Normally, great movies rarely give the audience a chance to fully understand the background of the story, but this dvd promises to do just that. To that end it only marginally succeeds.

This dvd collects nine stories from the Matrix universe, some that directly tie into the movies, and others that do not. This, in my mind, is where the dvd's problems arise. The stories involving known characters and events are wonderful, but the wholly original works lack spirit and direction.

The short episodes about the war with the machines, the discovery of the digging machines, and the search for Trinity all work wonderfully, if a bit unfocused. The downfall is in the other tales using characters with no tie to anything except the universe they are in.

In my opinion, this dvd would have worked much better if it had gone into more detail about the rise of AI, as well as other points the movie's only mention. The different artistic styles only fueled the lack of focus of these stories. Either the creators were trying to push too much info through in a short time span, or the artists took too many liberties with the script.

This dvd also has some interesting extras. Insight into its creation as well as others provide a small amount of enjoyment besides the films. These, however, are no reason to purchase the dvd if you are not a fan of the films, all of which can be seen online fairly easily.

All in all, this dvd is an interesting companion to the Matrix films, but it is probably best to rent instead of purchase.