Over G Fighters Review (Xbox 360)

Title: Over G Fighters
System: Xbox360
Players: 1
ESRB: RP

Summary:
In Over G Fighters, a terrorist organization threatens the world’s peace and security as players take to the skies in a united world air force. Players command more than 30 of the most powerful jet fighters ever conceived and battle for air superiority in massive dogfights in the skies above Europe, Asia, Africa and North America. Players combat enemies in the air and on the ground with challenging and dangerous strike missions against well defended targets deep in the heart of hostile territory.

Review:
Over G Fighters is the second plane game for the 360, the first being Blazing Angels, with the power and capabilities of the 360, this game is really a let down.

For those of you that have played Top Gun on the NES and still remember it, will find many similiarities. One for instance, is the lumbering controls that you are faced with. You cannot roll the plane, you can turn it 45 degrees at most. The sense of speed is lacking, there are no afterburners, and the screen dims if you turn too hard. While for some may like it, it is no Ace Combat, if that is what you are wanting, this isn’t the title that you want.

While there are some good with this title, such as the achievements, they are really easy to get. It is very life like, this is more like a simulator than a combat flight game. You can choose the load out of your plane for the mission that you are going on. While that has its advantages, most often you just go with the default.

The controls seem dead in your hand, the more you try to turn, the less the plane turns, instead of an elite combat jet, it is more like a brick with wings. While there are a whole plethora of planes for you to choose from, the flight mechanics and everything else remain the same. Instead if being in the world and moving around it like in Ace Combat, you are stationary and the world moves around you.

But to be honest, this game is bad, so bad in fact I don’t know whatelse to bash about it. I couldn’t even get past the second level on the game. I normally complete a game, no matter how bad it is. But with this one, I couldn’t punish myself anymore. I was making excuses not to play it. How often to you find reasons *NOT* to play video games?

I give Over G Fighters a 1/10

Empire Entertainment Crowns Magic Tag Team Champions!!!

eptember 8th was a night that will go down in Empire Entertainment history! It was the night that we held our first ever tournament for the newly created Empire Entertainment Tag Team Championship belt! 8 people showed up, and we decided that as opposed to going by store ranking for teams, we would just randomly determine the teams by having each player select a random land card, and the two who’s cards were the same were on a team. Here’s how the teams ended up:

Team 1 : Jason “Magic-Man” Heckel and Travis “Wolf-Man” Schilling

Wolf-Man was using his trusty white deck with flanking, while Magic was using a newly created white deck that I never really got to see much of.

Team 2: Tony Ames and Jason Foreman

Tony Ames was using a black and blue deck, while Foreman (suprisingly) was not using his elf and platinum angel deck. He instead used a newly constructed black deck.

Team 3: James L. Seagraves and Tyler “Giggles” Miller

James was using the newly revised Traumatize deck, and Giggles was using a newly created blue and white deck.

Team 4: Paul “Poofy Head Paul” Lewis and Nate “Staz” Nastase.

Paul was playing with some black contraption of his, whiel Staz was using a white (and potentially lethal) rebel deck.

Here’s how the matches broke down:

Round 1:

Magic and Wolfman defeated James and Giggles – barely
Foreman and Ames defeated Poofy and Staz

Round 2:

James and Giggles defeated Poofy and Staz – barely
Foreman and Ames defeated Magic and Wolfman

Round 3:

Foreman and Ames defeated James and Giggles – barely
Magic and Wolfman defeated Poof and Staz

In the end, it was Tony Ames and Jason Foreman who went undefeated, thus claiming the tag team title. James and Giggles nearly beat them though, which would have caused a 3 way tie for the best record; thus meaning a 3 way 2 on 2 on 2 match would have been scheduled.

All in all it was a great evening for Hudson, Michigan. Next weekend look for a similar contest to determine the #1 contenders for the title, and soon after that there will be a title match!

Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 Review (Xbox360)

Title: Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2
System: Xbox360, PC, PS3, PSP
Players: 1
ESRB: T

Summary:
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 builds off of the events in the first game and places gamers in control of the U.S. military’s elite fighting unit, the Ghosts. In the year 2014, the rising conflict between Mexican loyalists and insurgent rebel forces has thrown Mexico into full-scale civil war. Under the command of Captain Scott Mitchell, the Ghosts are called upon to face an imminent threat to the United States. The fate of two countries now lies in the hands of the Ghosts as they fend off an attack on U.S. soil. Equipped with the most cutting-edge weaponry and technology, the Ghosts must battle on both sides of the border to neutralize the escalating rebel threat.

Review:
Last year, with the first GRAW, the game play was awesome but had its flaws. This years game builds upon that, and is more highly polished. After looking at screencaps and game movies, you have to ask yourself, what is stopping you from buying it? Really!

The game starts off slow, you go through the tutorial, with the Gears of War style camera, over the shoulder. The gameplay is fasted paced when it gets going. The first part of the tutorial get you used to the controls, game mechanics and leading your team. My one big complaint about GRAW 2 was that it is easy. I usually start all games on easy, just to get the hang of it before moving to higher difficulties, but this one, Easy is more like cakewalk. The AI is stupid, they hid out in the open or in windows, their aim is horrible and you could be standing right in front of them and not get hit. So I restarted and put it on the insane difficulty, that has to be more challenging right? Nope. It was still easy. The AI is a little smarter, but there are still things to be said about their choice of hiding places, their aim is better, but still not great.

The achievements in the game are easy to get. Play the game on insane and get the achievements for easy and medium. Then with the quick mission, allowing you to replay levels, you can get achievements… almost handed to you. On easy, with the first mission, your teammate, select the marksman, and go through the whole level, you are up front, finding baddies, have the marksman snipe them. At the end, if done right, you get 3 achievements. Ironman for not getting shot, Team ‘ELITE’ for them getting 50%+ kills and not getting wounded and Predator for starting all the battles. I do wish that Ubisoft would work on the game and make it more challenging. Perhaps in GRAW 3?

While don’t get me wrong, GRAW2 is a nice game, not the graphical marvel that was the first one, but still many small steps and tweaks. Such as the cross-cam, allowing you to see through the eyes of your teammates and or support vehicles, and being able to switch sides for southpaw support. As usual with all Ghost Recon titles, there are the different difficulty levels and shouldn’t take more than 12 hours to complete, if you are one to frequent Xbox Live, then you would want to play it on hard, otherwise it would be to easy, on an already too easy of a game.

For those of you with a gold account, playing online is where most of the meat of the game is. The single player campaign is short and easy, but the online co-op will give you a run for the money, although I can’t really speak because I don’t have a gold account, I am repeating what I have heard others talk about the game.

In closing, the ease of the game is a little disappointing, but there is plenty to do in the game and plenty of replay value, as with most shooters. I wouldn’t say this is a perfect game, but a great one nonetheless. 8/10

Empire Entertainment’s Magic The Gathering Results – September 2nd, 2007:

Despite the fact that our store wasn’t even supposed to be open, we ended up having an on the fly round robin tournament last night, and, just as he did during our last official round robin tournament – Wolf-Man (aka Travis Schilling) went undefeated against four other competitors.

Here were the decks being used last night:

Wolf-Man: White deck – flanking – many low cost creatures – Gaze of Justice

Tony Ames: Green and White deck – all flyers almost – tons of enchantments – Glorius Anthem mass production

James L. Seagraves – Newly created all red deck – no sorceries or instants – all creatures with firebreathing and defenders – pumpable to the max.

Jason Foreman – the dreaded elf deck that spits out mass insect tokens – blanchwood armor – thornweald archer / lure combo – and oh ya, that damned Platinum Angel.

Samwise Brown – Don’t even know what this kid was playing with, but whatever it was wasn’t built properly – as NOBODY saw hardly any creatures. We think it may have been white and green, but we’re not sure.

Wolf-Man made quick work of Tony Ames, Jason Foreman, Samwise Brown, and James L. Seagraves in 1 on 1 contests, raising his Empire Entertainment Magic ranking very close to that of John Macey’s.

Tony Ames went 1 and 3, defeating only Samwise Brown. The game between James and him was extremely close however.

Jason Foreman used his elf/platinum angel deck, which was brutal as usual in 1 on 1 play, as he went 3 and 1, losing only to Wolf-Man.

James L. Seagraves went 2 and 2, defeating both Tony Ames and Samwise, but losing to Wolf-Man and Foreman. Despite losing to Wolf-Man in a ranked game, he challenged him to an unranked rematch and narrowly defeated him. But, as it was an unranked game, nobody cared!

Samwise Brown went 0-4, as he really needs some help building a deck. He’s still looking for his first ranked victory, and nobody has any idea when that might come.

F.E.A.R. (First Encounter Assault and Recon) (Xbox 360)

Title: F.E.A.R
System: Xbox360, PC, PS3
Players: 1
ESRB: M

Summary:
F.E.A.R. (First Encounter Assault and Recon) is a first-person close-quarters combat game for the PC. The story begins when a paramilitary force infiltrates a multi-billion dollar aerospace compound, and the government responds by sending in Special Forces. The group loses contact with the government when an eerie signal interrupts radio communications–and when that interference subsides moments later, the team has been destroyed. That’s where you come in. As part of a classified strike team created to deal with threats no one else can handle, your mission is simple: eliminate the intruders at any cost, determine the origin of the signal, and contain the potential crisis before it gets out of control.

Review:
Last year, Monolith developed a love it or leave it title by tht name of Condemned. It was a 360 launch title, while there were many faults, the game was creapy. Now a year later, we have in our hands F.E.A.R. This game is definately spooky, with many things popping up and intense combat on top of some actually intelligent AI. This has an excellent atmosphere and the fast-paced combat gives shooter fans the chance to experience one Hades of a game.

FEAR starts off simple enough. You are a new recruit in the First Encounter Assault Recon, you are sent to investigate paranormal activities. This man, Paxton Fettel, think Hannibal Lector, is your current target. With your off the chart relfexes giving you the ability for some SlowMo bullet time. Although, you are often sent in alone because of your supernatural abilities. Often times during the game, you will have visions, often set on by Paxton, or this girl that is always accompained with fire. As in case with these style of games, things don’t go smoothly, there are many turn of events that you have to put a stop too, leading you on one Hades of a paranormal journey.

While the story of FEAR itself isn’t all that great, the way it is delivered is exciting, yet at times frustrating. Most often, your way of learning more about the story, is searching buildings for clues and brief cutscenes. Most often times they are blinking phones with a voicemail, or the occasional computer. Getting to these will fill you in on some details, but it is compeletly auditory and leaves you with more questions. Although, the game itself isn’t about the story, with such a cheap acronym staring you in the face, you should be expecting as much. It is more a combination of three factors; puzzle, combat, and scarey sequences. The puzzles seem to be more like intermitten breaks between the intense action so you don’t go crazy. However, the scare sequences and the action can compete with the best of them.

One strength that FEAR undeniabley possesses is the genuinity of the scare factor of the game. Something that you don’t come across very often in “survival horror” games. No matter the scare tactic; the sudden image, dismembering of unfortunate souls, flickering of the lights to mess with you, or to have the person vanish infront of your eyes. The sound and the graphics of the game work amazingly well together. My advice to you; play while it is dark, turn the lights off, turn up the sound and you’ll see what I mean. The use and non-use of lights, the sounds, they all keep you wondering what is just coming up. The intesity of all these combined have you so deeply engrossed in the game that when the scare does come, it really hits home.

The fantastic AI in this game is intense, they duck and cover, the come in squads, they react to their surroundings, they run away from grenades, your actions all add to the game. They will advance when you are reloading, knock things over for cover, hiding and waiting. Kill a few and sit and wait, they fall back to the shadows and wait for backup before advancing. Best bet is to have your SlowMo guage full and rush them. Kill them all while they can’t react to you. But becareful, waiting in the shadows for your gauge to fill and you will find a grenade at your feet, but rush them with out the SlowMo and you will find a hail of bullets coming your way. I suppose it all comes down to the enemies feeling real and not following a previous program that so often haunts other games.

The AI provides for intense combat and will have you really liking your SlowMo, on top you are given a nice selection of weaponry to choose from, the shotgun is my favorite, every so often causing a nice explosion of a bloody mess. Although one thing can be said about all the weapons, all result in a bloody gorey mess. However, one draw back that I can really think of, is the repetative scenery, room after room is dimly lit with flashing lights in spots and they are almost always sewers, office spaces, or construction zones. Although, the game can be beaten fairly fast, so there isn’t a whole lot of complaining about repetative-ness.

Overall, while the game does have its draw backs, however, it is a great play and well worth the time and money for it, I recommend this one. 8/10

Mass Effect Release Date Announced….

Mass Effect finally has a release date. The long-awaited BioWare RPG is coming November 20, just in time for the holidays. Mass Effect looks to cap off what may become the most successful year in gaming, both critically and financially.

“With Mass Effect, BioWare is delivering an incredible next-gen gaming odyssey,” said Ray Muzyka, BioWare’s CEO. “Our fans will journey through a vast, futuristic universe as they are challenged to make impactful decisions that will determine the very fate of the galaxy.”

“The best games bring players into an immersive, realistic world that is fun to explore from beginning to end. We’ve achieved that in Mass Effect by putting the player at the center of a compelling, cinematic storyline full of realistic characters and hundreds of exciting locations,” said Greg Zeschuk, President of BioWare.

Forza Motorsports 2 Review (Xbox 360)

Title: Forza Motorsports 2
System: Xbox360.
Players: 1
ESRB: E

Summary:
Forza 2 includes everything from Corvettes to Lamborghinis and includes many of the favorite features from the Xbox version of the game. However, the jump to 360 has also brought a few changes. The racing assists have been upgraded, the line that guides players along the sweet spot of the track dynamically changes color from green to red to show drivers when to break and accelerate, and the physics engine from the first game has also been rebuilt boasting about 360 calculations per second that contribute to exactly how the car reacts to the road.

Review:
Forza 2, while never having played the first one, I have heard a lot of good things about the game, and people always told me, it is no Project Gotham. Everyone wants different things from their racing games. Project Gotham has sleek looks, great graphics and the cars all handle well. Burnout has the arcade style, super speed that every racer must have. The way people were talking, Forza 2 was all three of these games rolled into one. Sadly, they are mistaken. Forza 2 does bolster a nice frame rate, and the cars look beautiful, but the way the glare shines off the car, it is disappointing, it is jagged, as well as the graphics on the horizon. It seems that they spent all their time getting the cars to look nice.

While in Forza 2, there are the typical race modes; Exhibition, Career and Arcade, as well as Time Trial. Career is your best bet if you don’t have Xbox Live. The indepth customability of the cars is phenominal. Unlike other games that boast customability, Forza 2 delivers. All you gear heads out there are sure to love this game. While, like any other game, it does have its faults. For one, the controls, they seem stiff and overly sensitive. The first time I drifted in the game, I lost control and crashed, I wish they would have worked on that a little. As well as showing speed, going 200 miles per hour down the straight away, certainly doesn’t feel like it.

Most of your time spent, if you don’t have Xbox Live, will be in the Career mode, while the other options are nice, all they really are is a trimmed down Career mode, nothing really special that they offer. While the game play is very realistic and you can tune the cars to your needs, and can turn the brake assist off, or the traction control. All of those seem like needless fluff when compared to the flaws of the game. It seems that it was added on later to make up for aspects the game is lacking.

All the tracks are based on real life tracks, however, they seem to be lacking in color, they seem flat and dull. On top of that, the tracks are almost indenticle, with the occasional reversed track, or different paths, it gets really boring after 5 or 6 races. The AI in the game is another thing that could have been worked on, they all have stock cars. You start out with a low ranked car and are always in the back of the pack, but as soon as you get enough cash to upgrade your car, you are starting first, and finishing first. It really isn’t a challenge, even on hard with all the assists turned off, once you get used to when to brake and how much to apply, the races are a breeze. It is so fun having a Toyota Supra that can beat out a Ferrari.

Along with the stiff controls and the lacking AI, one more fault with the game is the penalties. You go off the track, it adds time to your lap, you hit another car (or they hit you) you get cash taken off of the prize money. That is to be expected with a race game, but don’t make it so easy to have things deducted. While Forza 2 has a lot to offer, such as interesting Achievements, there are so many things lacking, interesting tracks, smooth controls, challenging AI, so many things that I hope Forza 3 will address, because until then, I am going to stick with Gran Turismo or PGR3.

But I think my main problem with this game, is all the hype, the way people kept talking about the game I got my hopes up, and unfortunately for me, the game didn’t deliver. While there is a lot to offer and is fun, it isn’t as fun as PGR3. I would rather play that over Forza 2 anyday. But don’t get me wrong, Forza 2 is special in its own way.

In closing, there are too many short comings that I feel hinder the game from getting an 10, or even an 8 for that matter. The game is still fun and has a lot to offer. Forza Motorsports 2 gets a 7/10

Test Drive Unlimited Review (XBOX 360)

Title: Test Drive Unlimited
System: PC, PS2, Xbox360.
Players: 1
ESRB: E 10+

Summary:
Test Drive Unlimited challenges players online to experience the most exotic and fastest cars and bikes on more than 1000 miles of diverse Hawaiian roads. Visit the most sophisticated car and bike dealers and chose to purchase new vehicles or simply take them for a spin. Collect and trade rare performance parts and customize each vehicle to make it one-of-a- kind. Gamers win races, challenges, missions and tournaments to earn credits and purchase new cars, bikes, rare performance parts, clothes, apparel, homes and garages. Boasting huge online content, racers around the world can challenge others to join them in the virtual paradise of the game’s persistent online racing world.

Review:
Test Drive Unlimited has gone above and beyond the call of duty. Most racing games will take a city or a section of the real world, map that and that is where you race in. TDU took the whole island of Oahu, Hawaii. With more than a 1,000+ miles for you to drive on, this is a seemless game. It is great, no, it is more than great. With so many elements of the genre blended, from single player racing, to multiplayer, challenges, the cars. While the car modification and the driving mechanics aren’t on the same level as the rest of the game, that is by no means keeps the game down.

The online aspect of TDU is simply amazing, while my month of gold membership expired while having the game, I still got to get some online with it. You are thrown in the game after you finish the tutorial, you can drive wherever you want, it is like the single game, you have your races and your challenges, but with the online, you have other racers driving around as well, you can instant challenge them and away you go. As you see another player, along with the AI in the game, you can flash your headlights and challenge them to a race, right then and there. That is a feat in itself, to manage what Eden and Atari have done with this game, is no small task.

There are a slew of modes to experience as well. The single-player game has missions of course, which involves driving someone or something to a particular location within a time limit or escorting an expensive car across the island without dinging it. For these you’ll get huge cash rewards or coupons to purchase a wardrobe for your character. The races are split up into three main categories; timed challenges, race challenges, and speed challenges. The time and race challenges aren’t anything extraordinary. You simply need to beat a group of opponents or a specific time. There are variations on the basic idea here, which include being forced to race cleanly or meet specific checkpoints. Most of the speed challenges give you several points where your pace will be clocked and you’ll have to average a specific rate of travel when you cross these points (which you can do in any order you choose). Other speed challenges only require you to reach certain rapidity within the time limit under tough conditions. These challenges are great fun as they’re the ones that make you do the most planning and upgrading of your cars.

There are issues with the game, that you soon find out about, but it isn’t enough to stop me from playing. The map is nice and it looks like ‘Google Maps’ and you can instantly warp to any previously visited location. Once you visit all the car dealerships, that is when the motorcycles are opened up to you. That is a problem with me, it seems to me that the motorcycles were thrown in at the last minute for more advertising potential. They handle horribly, forget about taking tight turns. You turn and the bike doesn’t want to straighten out, it gets aggrevating. Also, forget about awesome crashes with the motorcycles, you either skid to a hualt or flip over the handle bars, then you are reset on the side of the road. I much prefer the cars in the game. With a game as expansive as this one, the off-road areas are a let down. I’d have thought there would have been more to it, but it feels like driving on sand. Slow going and very easy to spin out.

There are 90 real-life vehicles included in Test Drive Unlimited with the promise of more coming via Marketplace. This isn’t a huge amount when compared to some other games, but getting the money to purchase every house (so you have enough space for your cars) and the rides themselves is going to take quite some time. You can upgrade a good number of the cars, but there aren’t any sort of tweaking or tuning options. Upgrading a ride is as simple as going to the proper shop and putting down the money to buy one of three improvements. It feels as if there are more options for tweaking your character than the cars… which seems backwards for a racing game. When so many of the competitions have online leaderboards, the inability to tweak our car to the exact way we want it to handle is disappointing.

As an interesting side note, Oahu apparently has a police force of about five thousand troopers. The police will come hunt you down, but only if you get into an accident of some sort. Zipping by a cop car at 215 mph doesn’t seem to faze them. A slight scratch, though, and watch out. The way the police pursue is based on a slightly broken system. The first accident will only make them look for you. If they see you, they’ll give chase but give up after a short while. Get in a second consecutive accident and the cops will actually try to give you a ticket. They do this by trying to ram you off the road. See where this is going? When they hit you it registers as another accident, making more police cars come to slam into you. When you get to a certain point, they’ll come indefinitely and start setting up road blocks. The fines can be upwards of $50,000 which only means you’ll be cursing at the screen when a cop nails you and then fines you for their zealousness. All of this can happen within a few seconds.

The graphics in TDU are similiar of any game that has had a lot of work put into it but never received the last bit of polish it needed. The most noticeable bit of ugliness is in the character models. No amount of tweaking with the character editing tools can take away the creepy, vacant look that everyone in the game possesses. Even more eerie is the complete lack of any NPCs on the entire island of Oahu. Apparently everyone who isn’t out driving prefers to hide inside their houses instead of enjoying the tropical paradise they live in.

But the game is about racing, not the characters in the cars. The vehicles certainly look better than the people, though they won’t win any awards when put up against the top notch racers like PGR3. The cars look too tall and thin for the road they’re on, especially when the camera is pulled all of the way back. The way the sun glints off of the rooftops is another source for complaint. Rather than directly reflecting off of surfaces, it appears to diffuse before it reflects, engulfing the entire vehicle. Another bit of ugliness surrounding your vehicle is the smoke that pours out when you burn some rubber. It looks more like somebody dumped gray paint on the screen than a cloud of pollution.

If you look on a map, Oahu may not seem like a very big place. Try driving around it in Test Drive Unlimited and you’ll see exactly how many miles of road there are to cover. You can drive nearly anywhere on the island, though some places are blocked off by fences, and you won’t find yourself with a loading screen until you enter a race, mission, or warp to a previously visited location. Streaming technology has come a long way and Test Drive Unlimited is a great example of what can be done with it. There are only a few issues with odd texture pop-in from the streaming engine. For the most part, the driving is seamless. You’re not going to see a car or tree appear out of nowhere right in front of you.

Like the graphics, the animations and physics in the game also have a lack of polish, or in some instances, a lack of existence. Driving into any sort of solid object will create a brick wall experience regardless of what you just hit. Slamming into a small bush will create the same response as hitting building. If you drive your car into the ocean, there won’t be a splash. Instead you’ll just see a pause and loading screen while you’re zipped back to the course.

Even though TDU has its problems and faults, it is still a good game and I still recommend that you go out and get it, at least rent it. While it does feel unpolished, it is still a fun game, and with the online, the whole game is a lobby, with the instant challenges. It really makes the game funner, mixing MMO and racing truly makes for a unique gaming experience. While many improvements could have been had, such as the character graphics, the motorcycles, car customization, etc. If those were polished more, this game could easily compete with the top dogs of the genre. I give Test Drive Unlimited a 7/10

The Number 23 Review

A Review By James L. Seagraves

I had fairly high expectations when going in to see “The Number 23,” the latest film in the ever improving Jim Carrey’s career, based on what I had heard several customers say about the movie when they saw it in the theater. I even had one customer reserve it for the first day even AFTER he had seen it not once but twice in the theater, and the kid normally has pretty good film taste, so I was preparing for a GREAT film.

What I got was anything but. I found The Number 23 to be pretty lame to be honest with you. I mean, the performances were all pretty good, but the movie just seemed to try to hard to twist you at the end, and what’s even worse is that not only did they have a ridiculous plot twist, but they also had to spoon feed every little detail to you! I HATE movies that think they’re all clever and original and “unique,” by having some horribly lame forced plot twist in the end. Not only are these twists usually unfounded, but the film’s director feels the need to spell out every minute detail in order for the simpletons of the world to “understand” something that in all actuality is so outside the realm of possibility it’s ludacris! This movie does just that.

I could go on and on about the inconsistancies and ridiculous plot points of this film for hours, but I don’t want to ruin your chance of seeing this movie and feeling like you were being taught how to pee in the toilet for the first time. Of course, the more realistic comparison to a real life event would be that you would be shown how to pee in the toilet, but the toilet AND your genitals wouldn’t even be there!

Another problem I had with this film was that from the opening scene, it looked like this movie might actually dive into some greater conspiracy about the Number 23. Showing dates like 9-11-2001 and breaking down how 9+11+2+0+0+1 = 23 was actually kind of cool, and there were a few other intriguing dates that added up to 23, but once the credits were over, so were the alleged “coincidences” that…I don’t know…maybe anyone else in the world ASIDE from Jim Carrey’s character might have actually given a damn about. I don’t care if his character lives at an address that adds up to 23, or if his name has 23 letters in his name! I wanted for them to at least dive into some of the historical dates and, I don’t know…actually make it a thought that might actually stay in your head for more than 23 seconds!

In closing I will say that this movie did have a few postive elements to it. The sex scenes between Fingerling and his girlfriend Fabrizia were very erotic and well done, and the cinematography was reminscent of Sin City and 300 at times, which was impressive. But if that’s all I wanted from a movie, I’d just go to the kid who used to work for me’s house and pick up a friggin Hentai dvd, and get all the graphic novel style sex scenes my heart could handle!

Overall score for this film: 2 out of 5.

Lego Indiana Jones Announced!

After nearly an hour of Star Wars news from LucasFilm’s Steve Sansweet, the director of content management told the enormous San Diego Comic-Con gathering that he had forgotten one thing, and the Indiana Jones theme hit.

LEGO Indiana Jones: The Video Game is coming to a videogame system near you.

Yes, LucasArts is teaming with TT games once again to put a plastic spin on a familiar franchise. The title will give gamers the chance to play through the first three Indy flicks with the plastic pieces and blocks they know and love.

Sansweet showed a brief trailer that featured a number of the franchise’s favorite scenes redone in LEGO vision. The opening scene said “South America 1936″ and showed Indy marching a group through the tall grass. Two natives shot darts at our hero — however, the darts miss Indy and whack the opposite shooters.

From there we got some brief gameplay moments of Indy leaping around and swinging with his whip, firing off his gun and running from a LEGO boulder chasing him down a hallway.

At the end, the words onscreen announced that you could expect the game summer 2008, but it didn’t mention platforms.

Empire Entertainment’s official stance on this news story: this is HUGE for the fans of the Lego Star Wars series, which in our opinion are two of the best games to come out in a long time. Not only are the fans getting treated to another Lego game, but they are also being treated to another George Lucas project! Lucas fans rejoice!