Review: Terminator Salvation the vidoegame

Terminator Salvation was pointless adventure that had some decent action and some fun moments; I just wish I could say that about the game. All I can say about the game is that it was pointless and a big waste of time. In fact, the Terminator Salvation video game is exactly why movie video game tie-ins have such a bad reputation. Everything about this game screams “rushed money grab” as opposed to thoughtful expansion on ideas presented in the film. Too bad, you’d think the Terminator franchise would be a natural for video game; and you’d be wrong to think that.

Preview: Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 on the Xbox 360 looks like it’s going to be a great entry into the franchise. It looks great, it has plenty of nice little touches in the presentation, the controls are solid, but it’s lacking just one thing; it’s not the Wii version. After playing Tiger Woods 09 on the Wii with its extremely enjoyable motion controls, and with the promise of even better controls coming with this year’s inclusion of MotionPlus, I found it really hard to play Tiger Woods with a standard controller. Still, if you don’t have a Wii, the demo for Xbox 360 reveals plenty to like about this year’s game even if you don’t get to play with a Wiimote.

Pop Culture Parable: Up

Pixar’s new movie Up tells us that “adventure is out there” and encourages us to get out there and find it.  So more than anything, Up is really about living life.

Review: Up

Pixar has had such a long string of successes, in fact an unprecedented string of successes, that whenever a new film comes out from them I get a little worried. I worry that this time the movie is going to be flop. After all, the law of averages dictates that sooner or later Pixar is going to do something wrong, sooner or later they’re going to make a movie that people won’t like. I know that seems far fetched, but it has to happen some time (and no, I don’t think Cars counts). So now their new movie Up is out, and I couldn’t help but worry that maybe this time Pixar came up with an idea that wouldn’t work; an old guy in a flying house. Much to my relief and astonishment, however, Pixar has once again crafted a brilliant, funny, moving story full of engaging characters; in short, they’ve hit yet another home run and their record of success is sure to stay intact.

Preview: Burnout Paradise

If there’s a game that has truly taken advantage of keeping itself fresh, exciting and fun, it’s Burnout Paradise. A couple of major additions a few smaller ones has made Burnout Paradise one of the best supported games of the past year as it’s received everything from new modes both online and off to new cars. Now, Criterion is ready to make Paradise City a whole lot bigger with their next big addition.

Pop Culture Parable: Terminator Salvation

If you’ve seen the trailers for Terminator Salvation, you know that Marcus is a Terminator who thinks he’s human. Not until about halfway through the film does he realize that he’s not. Unfortunately, the movie doesn’t spend a lot of time dwelling on Marcus’ struggle to come to terms with this realization, but then again, maybe that was a good thing.

Review: Terminator Salvation

Can Christian Bale successfully reboot another film franchise? He’s had a lot of success with that with Batman, so what about John Conner? T3 was understandably disappointing as it eschewed everything that happened in T2 just to make another film; another film that did pretty much what the previous films did, only not as well. T4, however, is smart enough to start fresh with a new setting, a new time period, and a new plot. Unfortunately, in all of its attempts to do something new, it really doesn’t do much of anything at all, leaving this epic film feeling more like a grand TV episode.

Review: EA Sports Active

EA Sports enters the fitness genre, a surprisingly popular genre on the Nintendo Wii, with the all new EA Sports Active. Coming almost a year later than Wii Fit, like any other fitness game that’s come out since that continuing phenomenal seller, it will have to try and live up to Nintendo’s effort. Oddly enough, that isn’t all that easy to do, and while EA Sports Active certainly improves on a few of the weaknesses of Wii Fit, it also has a few weak points of it own. Still, this is another all-around solid workout for those of us who can’t afford a gym membership or a personal trainer but would like to have the benefits of both.

Pop Culture Parable: Excitebots – Trick Racing

In Excitebots: Trick Racing the key to gaining stars when you race online is to make sure you finish well. The higher you place, the more stars you’ll get. So you want to make sure that you aren’t last, and if at all possible, that you’re in at least the top two. Finishing well isn’t something you only need to be concerned about in a racing game like Excitebots, it’s also something you should consider in life as well.

Review: Excitebots – Trick Racing

Some gamers want a racer that gives them the feel of what its really like to be behind the wheel of a race car. From the speed on the track to the adjustments in the garage, these gamers want a sense of realism, a simulation that gives them that “you’re an elite driver” feel. Well, if you one of those gamers, you might as well stop reading this review right now, because Excitebots: Trick Racing is absolutely nothing like that kind of racer. In fact, it’s the complete opposite of that kind of racer. This is silly, unrealistic, bombastically crazy arcade racing. More importantly, however, this is a really fun game despite it’s lack of any sort of racing realism.