Ok, so I’m shakin’ and movin’ right now. I’ve got a week until school starts again and there’s this video editing gig I’ve been putting off because I’m trying to get through Skyrim, Catherine, Uncharted 3, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood — yeah, I’m behind — and Little Big Planet 2. I’m holed up in the coffee shop today, I just got through some bills and I have a window to talk to you for a bit. So, here’s what I got:
Elder Scrolls: Skyrim
Is amazing! It may not be might favorite game this year but it is the best. Skyrim is this year’s best example of what video games can do that other entertainment mediums can’t. It’s an amalgamation of literature, interactive storytelling, radio, and film. I’ve read quite a few articles comparing Dark Souls to Skyrim and I have yet to be convinced the DS is anywhere near as good. I’m not buying the better use of story telling through subtlety that Rick Stanton discussed in Eurogamer. Back that up with some data, man. I can appreciate the combat in DS that Leigh Alexander preferred to see in Skyrim but I’m still not convinced that it’s better. Honestly, I’m not sure that Dark Souls was significantly better than Demon Souls. As we’ve seen with Portal 2, Batman: Arkham City, Assassin’s Creed 2, etc. the sequel is your statement game. Did Dark Souls really make a statement? I want to spend some more time with DS and Skyrim but I look forward to exploring this a little more in the future.
Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception
Developer Naughty Dog does such an incredible job of taking real estate from their previous games and somehow making them better. If you’ve played the previous two games you’ll notice how familiar parts of the boat scene in UC3 looks a lot like the end of UC1, for example, but they added just enough tweaks (uh, movable cover?) to make it better. I agree with most that the pacing in UC2 was just a tad better than Deception. But, I think the issue with people having an issue with Drake being a nice guy in cut scenes then a maniac when the gameplay kicks in needs to forgive themselves for watching seven seasons of Jack Bauer, four sequels of Die Hard, and a death count between Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade that would have certainly got Indiana Jones fired from his teaching job at the university. Blasphemers! Nolan North and Nathan Drake is awesome.
Prometheus
I love the trailer but I’m trying not to get my hopes up too high. Filmmakers from my childhood have been a major disappointment in their old age. Speilberg gives us a war movie about a horse in World War 1 after Tintin and Indiana Jones 4 (Yuck!). Scorcese actually did direct Hugo (Word?). And, of course, let’s not forget good ‘ol George Lucas and his unbelievably terrible Star Wars prequels.
People keep talking about Prometheus being a prequel to Alien but am I the only one that read the interview with director Ridley Scott where he said that was the original idea and that Prometheus in… something else?
And, Finally: A Montage of 2011’s Black Films
I loved Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels Of A Tribe Called Quest, The Black Power Mixtape, V. 1, Columbiana and Attack the Block was brilliant. Viva Riva! is in the Netflix queue and I can’t wait to catch Shame after this article. If you recognize any of these other movies let me know but it looked like a pretty good year.
Note: props to Shadow and Act for putting this together.
Danger Brain 