Spring break has giving me a fantastic chance to rack up some hours playing Brawl, watching Lost, and not doing much else. So on the light of those two, here are two mini-reviews of what I've been doing. From this point on, I'm going to use a 5 point system instead of 10.
Review #1 - Lost: "Ji Yeon"
With the exception of "The Constant," this was the best episode of season 4 so far. It deals with Jin and Sun, and is the first episode to use both a flashback and a flashforward in the same episode. The episode may not have been the most information filled, but it wasn't aiming to be. It was structured extremely well around creating an emotional story about Jin and Sun. By the end, I was choked up.
Of course, saying that it wasn't the most information filled episode this season does not mean that nothing relevant to the story happened. Michael has returned, under the pseudonym of Kevin Johnson. The confrontation between Sayid and Michael when they are reacquainted was one of the best parts of the episode. Little dialogue was
spoken, but the tension between the two could have been cut with a knife, or in Michael's case, shot with a gun while in search of his boy.
If you missed the episode, head on over to abc.com. It was full of shocking moments, and even more full of tear jerkers. The end result was a phenomenal episode that left the audience on the edge of the seat, waiting for next week's episode (especially since someone is slated to die next week).
"Ji Yeon" gets 4.5 smokey monsters out of 5
Review #2 - Super Smash Bros. Brawl
The original Super Smash Bros. laid the groundwork to an amazing franchise. It didn't have the most fleshed out presentation, but the core mechanics worked wondrously well. It's sequel, Super Smash Bros. Melee, expanded on the original game in every department, but suffered many character balancing issues. The newest installment, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, is everything the franchise needed. Every character is completely balanced, the presentation is phenomenal, and the core gameplay is more fun than it has ever been.
Subspace Emissary, the single player mode of the game, works surprisingly well. It is lengthy, nostalgic, and for the most part, an absolute blast. However, the multiplayer is where the game truly shines. Every character is an absolute blast to play. Seeing as there are over 30 characters, that's pretty impressive. Everything about the game is over the top and amazing. From the soundtrack, graphics, gameplay, and presentation, every area has been refined to perfection.
Ultimately, the shortcomings of the game are extremely minor when the game is looked at as a whole. Some levels of the Subspace Emissary could have definitely been removed. The online play, despite working well, isn't a major selling point for the game. This is a game you want to get your friends together in one room and play until everyone is screaming, throwing fits, throwing fists, making death threats, and having an all out blast. If you have that group of friends, this is one of the best games released in years.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl earns the highest ranking, 5 out of 5.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
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1 comments:
The panda was one of my favorite stars of this episode. I loved that it had a bit of comedy mixed in with all the drama which was amazing. I thought that it was very deserving of the rating you gave it.
I also agree with what you've said about Brawl. I know that for me as pretty much a beginner that it gets better and better finding a character that you like and trying out some other things about the game.
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