I like it, but then that's to be expected. I like the GTA series and Mafia II is essentially GTA Mafia.
The Demo offers you 10 minutes of play (or you can hack the Timer for...er...a more thorough review? Yeah, that works. Nothing like a good rationalization.) within a small portion of the game world, and if you go outside the boundary you "lose" the Demo's linear mission. Fortunately the 10 minutes is the only timer in the Demo so once it's no longer counting down you pretty much have free reign within the Demo, or at least within the Demo's playable area.
One of the things I didn't like was the biased, heavy-handedness of the police. Rounding one corner I had a minor fender bender with another car. The police were perhaps 100 yards ahead of us and both myself and the other car came to a complete stop, but as I looked on the police car's lights came on and the built-in police scanner announced a Hit & Run. The cop car's doors opened and the police began running back towards us, guns drawn.
A Hit & Run? What Hit & Run??? We'd both stopped our cars. There was no Hit & Run!
Then I was being pulled from my car and arrested at gun point, for a non-existent Hit & Run.
Later I would deliberately run in front of a car traveling in front of a police car, and despite being struck & injured and the offending car continuing to drive on in a classic case of Hit & Run...the police did nothing.
Another thing I didn't like was being forced to install Steam along with the Demo. I don't really have any rational reason for not liking Steam, but I object to having to install & run a third party program to play the Demo when that program has absolutely nothing to do with the game (yes, yes. I know Mafia II can be multiplayed via Steam, but that's Mafia II the GAME, not Mafia II the DEMO). That's actually almost enough to turn me off buying the Game, if I'm forced to play it via Steam. And yes, I know I can tweak Steam to run it in Offline Mode but why should I have to? If I only want to play Mafia II as a Single Player game, and only as a Single Player Game, why do I need to install & run a Third-party peer-to-peer client?
But the game is good, or at least the Demo is, and by inference the Game must be, too. After all, it's GTA Mafia. What's not to like?
I liked how 'Cover' worked in combat, with the ability to use Mouse Look to scope out the situation prior to Right-Click/Leaning out to shoot. I also liked that cover wasn't always bullet proof, and that you could still be shot while 'taking cover' if you weren't careful.
If you don't care one way or another about Steam, and if you liked the GTA series, particularly those from III onward, you'll probably like Mafia II. I like it too; I'm just not sure I like it enough to overlook the forced bundling of Steam along with it, even if I do understand why it's been included. Personally, I think the User should have the option of not installing Steam, and being able to play Mafia II as a Single Player-only game.
The Demo isn't enough to convince me to pay full price for Mafia II, but it has reminded me that I never bought GTA IV, and with it being available now for just $20 I might finally add it to my library.
*edit* I did find this amusing. I was experimenting with the hand-to-hand combat system, which is fun, even if it's not Tekken. In fact it's just left-clicking or right-clicking for a light hit or heavy hit, but your avatar does throw combos as you gain the upper hand, or your opponent if you're losing the fight, which is a nice touch. After beating up on a few guys I drew the attention of the police, managed to resist arrest (by beating up the arresting officer), then successfully fled the scene of the crime. However, I was still a Wanted Man and thus prone to attracting attention if a cop saw me, which one did.
While playing you come across the odd tip, and one Tip said to be careful brandishing weapons in Gun Stores because Gun Store owners are armed themselves.
Now it just so happened that I attracted the attention of the local constabulary while outside a Gun Store, and with it being one of the few building you can enter I quickly ducked inside and hid behind the counter. When the cop chased me inside he drew his gun and shot at me...and was promptly blown away by the Gun Store owner.
I doubt the Gun Store owner has become a Wanted Man now himself, but I did find it an amusing touch that he was willing to defend himself against a perceived attack by shooting a police officer.
Showing posts with label Review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Review. Show all posts
Friday, August 20, 2010
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Quick Review: UFC Undisputed 2010
I had a chance to play the PS3 demo of UFC '10 at Best Buy on the weekend, and I liked it. It was very quick and easy to pick up the basics, especially as it used Tekken-like controls with each of the 4 primary buttons being for left punch, right punch, left kick, & right kick. It made it very easy to string combos together while also demonstrating the infeasibility of throwing right roundhouse kick after right roundhouse kick after right roundhouse kick, etc.
Being UFC the game is more than just striking and fighters do go to the mat and can attempt submission moves. Not knowing (at the time) how to get out of a submission (or apply one) I settled for knocking my opponent the fuck out! Hey, it's UFC, right? It's not figure skating. So for the most part I was throwing combinations and going for a knock-out punch, and if I happened to knock my opponent to the mat I'd move in and hammer him with left-right-left strikes to the head until he pushed me away and the referee broke us up, or I broke through his defense, broke his nose, and knocked him the fuck out!
To demonstrate the engine's eloquence and subtlety my son took his turn and made it through the first round after cutting his opponent up (strikes to the head can cut while blows to the body leave nasty looking welts). When the bell sounded to start the second round my boy slowly backed away from his opponent while throwing several big, right hands that found nothing but air. But the fourth or fifth punch he threw finally connected and it must have found the sweet spot because his opponent went down like a poleaxed steer. One punch and Bam! (And we're not talking Margera) Knock out. Lights out. Game over. Thanks for coming.
Unlike my victories which came after several devastating head shots this was one, perfectly thrown punch that just knocked the recipient out for the count. So you can brutally beat your opponent into the mat, you can finesse your way to victory, or, as I'd find out in one of my matches, you can yield to an arm bar or some other various submission hold.
It's apparently getting quite high reviews and having played the demo I can understand why. It's controls are easy to pick up and it's probably loads of fun at a LAN party or just when you get a few mates around, but it also hints that if you're prepared to put in the time it could rival the fighting games of yesteryear for depth and complexity.
If I had a PS3 (or XBox), this is definitely one I'd be adding to my library.
Being UFC the game is more than just striking and fighters do go to the mat and can attempt submission moves. Not knowing (at the time) how to get out of a submission (or apply one) I settled for knocking my opponent the fuck out! Hey, it's UFC, right? It's not figure skating. So for the most part I was throwing combinations and going for a knock-out punch, and if I happened to knock my opponent to the mat I'd move in and hammer him with left-right-left strikes to the head until he pushed me away and the referee broke us up, or I broke through his defense, broke his nose, and knocked him the fuck out!
To demonstrate the engine's eloquence and subtlety my son took his turn and made it through the first round after cutting his opponent up (strikes to the head can cut while blows to the body leave nasty looking welts). When the bell sounded to start the second round my boy slowly backed away from his opponent while throwing several big, right hands that found nothing but air. But the fourth or fifth punch he threw finally connected and it must have found the sweet spot because his opponent went down like a poleaxed steer. One punch and Bam! (And we're not talking Margera) Knock out. Lights out. Game over. Thanks for coming.
Unlike my victories which came after several devastating head shots this was one, perfectly thrown punch that just knocked the recipient out for the count. So you can brutally beat your opponent into the mat, you can finesse your way to victory, or, as I'd find out in one of my matches, you can yield to an arm bar or some other various submission hold.
It's apparently getting quite high reviews and having played the demo I can understand why. It's controls are easy to pick up and it's probably loads of fun at a LAN party or just when you get a few mates around, but it also hints that if you're prepared to put in the time it could rival the fighting games of yesteryear for depth and complexity.
If I had a PS3 (or XBox), this is definitely one I'd be adding to my library.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Wii: MySims Agents
After quickly checking out a video review on my phone (you might think I'm crazy, but if you really believe we're not fast approaching The Singularity then I say you're the delusional one, so there :P) I decided MySims Agents was worth 10,000 of our 27,000 Dave & Buster points and having played it for several hours over the weekend, including watching both my kids play it (5 y/old daughter, 9 y/old son) I'm still in agreement with my earlier decision. This game is definitely worth getting, and not only if you have youngsters. Apparently you can pick it up new for $20 but we already had the D&B points so it was sort of like it was free. Either way it's good value.
The first mission, determining the owner of a dog, teaches you the basics without feeling too much like a Tutorial. You talk to people, get leads from them and make 'notes' in your Notebook, which you can review if you get lost or have to Save & Quit and can't return for a while so forget where you were at (which is more likely). You also interact with items in the game world like prying open boxes with your Crowbar, fixing/repairing/salvaging items with your Wrench, or finding clues/footprints, etc, with your magnifying glass. All three tools get upgraded over the course of the game, gradually allowing you to perform a greater variety of tasks like moving boxes around to create steps to access new areas, picking locks, repairing broken items, or analyzing items of note. All of these activities are completed in minigames by you, the player, not automatically by your avatar, which makes this more than just a simple, point & click adventure game.
You pick locks in a manner very similar to the puzzle game 'Rush Hour' and while the first couple of puzzles were easily solved, as I expected they would they quickly ramped up in difficulty. Nothing taxing, yet, but I'm only halfway through the game. (Actually I'm halfway through as far as Missions go, but last night's Mission took me several hours to complete compared to the first which was solved in barely an hour. I did do a lot of exploring and I'm sure I could do that Mission a lot faster now that I know what's going on, but if the Missions continue to get more involved I'd hazard a guess that I'm maybe only a third of the way into the game.)
Repairing broken items is a basic (so far) version of the classic PC game The Incredible Machine, and requires you to get the 'colored' parts on the board moving, using a limited number of pieces to connect batteries and wires with cogs and belts.
Analyzing items could best be described as a Molecule builder game. Sometimes you start with an empty board, sometimes you'll have a couple of atoms already in place. In either case you'll also have a 'bank' of atoms that all need to be placed on the board, some of which will only connect to 1 other atom while others will connect to 2, 3 or 4 atoms, and this is the mini-game that has been the most challenging so far.
The mini-games serve to both involve the player in the game, and make it more than just a case of walk around, talk to everyone, click on everything, now see if anyone has new dialog. Considering that's what even the most hardcore point & click adventures often boil down to, that's not necessarily a negative for those who like this type of game. If you're looking for action, you've come to the wrong town. This game requires to stop, read, & think about what to do or where to go next. And while you do have your Notebook and could just skip through the dialog ("Yeah, yeah. Kill 10 rats. Got it! Shut up already!") and consult that, unlike your quests in an MMO there is no end game in MySims Agents; the Journey IS the game, so I see no point in rushing through the game (it's short enough as it is!) Yes, it is a short game, but at $20 it's also a cheap game. Without a doubt you could rent it and beat it in a weekend if you cared to, so to add longevity they've included a 'collection' game, of sorts.
Scattered throughout the game are chests, boxes, and various 'easter eggs', and finding/opening these rewards you with clothing, accessories, or costumes for your Agent, or furniture or decorations for your Headquarters.
What's the deal with decorating your HQ?
Each of the items comes with a bonus to one or more of five attributes (off the top of my head, Science, Charisma, Nature, Sport, & Paranormal), and when placed on one of the four floors in your HQ (five including the lobby, but you can't decorate that) those bonuses increase the appropriate stat/attribute of the Team you have housed there.
The Team? Isn't this a game about your Secret Agent?
Well yes, it is, but as you play the game and complete Missions you'll meet various characters, and when a Mission is over you can recruit some of these characters, who will also have a combination of one or more of the five attributes. Some of them are fairly well-rounded and will have 1 to 3 points in 2 to 3 attributes (5 points total), some will be more specialized and will have 3, 4, or even 5 points in a particular attribute. Assigning similar characters to the same floor (maximum of 3 characters per floor) creates a team strong in one or two areas (and naturally weak in others), so placing items that enhance that team's dominant attribute will make for a team very strong in one or two areas.
But why Teams?
Because you can send these Teams out on Missions of their own, and their chances of success are based on how relevant their skills are to the particular mission, from Poor to Excellent. Successfully completing these Team Missions unlocks harder Team Missions and also rewards you with new items.
The Teams also don't just go out on their own, they'll check in with you from time to time, and often at an annoyingly inconvenient time, ("I'm walking across an I-beam 3 stories up here! You think you could call back later? No? Fine, what is it?") requiring you to make decisions possibly (still not sure if it's random or not) affecting the outcome of their Mission. For example, one Mission has your Team trying to get a Client to the movies (exciting stuff for Secret Agents, I know) and the battery on their phone is running out (so they called you and drained their battery even further. Smart Team you've got there.) They have enough power to check movie times or traffic conditions, and they want to know what to do. (Pop Quiz, Hot Shot! What do you do? What. Do. You. Do?) In my case I told them to check the traffic, so what happened? They called back to say "The traffic looks fine." Now I was worried that I should have checked the movie times in case there was a later showing, but I worried for nothing because they made it on time. Well of course they did, because they didn't encounter any traffic problems.
You're not really micromanaging your Teams on their missions. Usually you'll make 2-3 decisions per Team Mission at most, but when you've got 4 Teams out on Missions that adds up to 8-12 decisions you might have to make. Throw in that the Teams will often call in just to let you know there are no problems, and you literally can be balancing on an I-beam when a call comes in. "Everything is fine? That's great! Can I get back to trying not to fall 40-feet to my death now? I can? Thank you!"
Actually you can't die, at least not that I've found. So if you ever do fall off a rafter, I-beam, etc, you'll either land on the ground below or miraculously reappear at the beginning of your rafter, I-beam, etc. This is a MySims game, after all. It's designed for the kids, but it's sufficiently well done that it has a lot of 'grown-up kid' appeal, too. It doesn't have flashy graphics or gratuitous cleavage shots, there's occasional clipping in the animation, and it can be rather linear, but it's still a very well done adventure game that's fun for the whole family (except maybe 13-year old Jimmy who'd rather be playing Soul Caliber, and I can't fault him for that ;)
The first mission, determining the owner of a dog, teaches you the basics without feeling too much like a Tutorial. You talk to people, get leads from them and make 'notes' in your Notebook, which you can review if you get lost or have to Save & Quit and can't return for a while so forget where you were at (which is more likely). You also interact with items in the game world like prying open boxes with your Crowbar, fixing/repairing/salvaging items with your Wrench, or finding clues/footprints, etc, with your magnifying glass. All three tools get upgraded over the course of the game, gradually allowing you to perform a greater variety of tasks like moving boxes around to create steps to access new areas, picking locks, repairing broken items, or analyzing items of note. All of these activities are completed in minigames by you, the player, not automatically by your avatar, which makes this more than just a simple, point & click adventure game.
You pick locks in a manner very similar to the puzzle game 'Rush Hour' and while the first couple of puzzles were easily solved, as I expected they would they quickly ramped up in difficulty. Nothing taxing, yet, but I'm only halfway through the game. (Actually I'm halfway through as far as Missions go, but last night's Mission took me several hours to complete compared to the first which was solved in barely an hour. I did do a lot of exploring and I'm sure I could do that Mission a lot faster now that I know what's going on, but if the Missions continue to get more involved I'd hazard a guess that I'm maybe only a third of the way into the game.)
Repairing broken items is a basic (so far) version of the classic PC game The Incredible Machine, and requires you to get the 'colored' parts on the board moving, using a limited number of pieces to connect batteries and wires with cogs and belts.
Analyzing items could best be described as a Molecule builder game. Sometimes you start with an empty board, sometimes you'll have a couple of atoms already in place. In either case you'll also have a 'bank' of atoms that all need to be placed on the board, some of which will only connect to 1 other atom while others will connect to 2, 3 or 4 atoms, and this is the mini-game that has been the most challenging so far.
The mini-games serve to both involve the player in the game, and make it more than just a case of walk around, talk to everyone, click on everything, now see if anyone has new dialog. Considering that's what even the most hardcore point & click adventures often boil down to, that's not necessarily a negative for those who like this type of game. If you're looking for action, you've come to the wrong town. This game requires to stop, read, & think about what to do or where to go next. And while you do have your Notebook and could just skip through the dialog ("Yeah, yeah. Kill 10 rats. Got it! Shut up already!") and consult that, unlike your quests in an MMO there is no end game in MySims Agents; the Journey IS the game, so I see no point in rushing through the game (it's short enough as it is!) Yes, it is a short game, but at $20 it's also a cheap game. Without a doubt you could rent it and beat it in a weekend if you cared to, so to add longevity they've included a 'collection' game, of sorts.
Scattered throughout the game are chests, boxes, and various 'easter eggs', and finding/opening these rewards you with clothing, accessories, or costumes for your Agent, or furniture or decorations for your Headquarters.
What's the deal with decorating your HQ?
Each of the items comes with a bonus to one or more of five attributes (off the top of my head, Science, Charisma, Nature, Sport, & Paranormal), and when placed on one of the four floors in your HQ (five including the lobby, but you can't decorate that) those bonuses increase the appropriate stat/attribute of the Team you have housed there.
The Team? Isn't this a game about your Secret Agent?
Well yes, it is, but as you play the game and complete Missions you'll meet various characters, and when a Mission is over you can recruit some of these characters, who will also have a combination of one or more of the five attributes. Some of them are fairly well-rounded and will have 1 to 3 points in 2 to 3 attributes (5 points total), some will be more specialized and will have 3, 4, or even 5 points in a particular attribute. Assigning similar characters to the same floor (maximum of 3 characters per floor) creates a team strong in one or two areas (and naturally weak in others), so placing items that enhance that team's dominant attribute will make for a team very strong in one or two areas.
But why Teams?
Because you can send these Teams out on Missions of their own, and their chances of success are based on how relevant their skills are to the particular mission, from Poor to Excellent. Successfully completing these Team Missions unlocks harder Team Missions and also rewards you with new items.
The Teams also don't just go out on their own, they'll check in with you from time to time, and often at an annoyingly inconvenient time, ("I'm walking across an I-beam 3 stories up here! You think you could call back later? No? Fine, what is it?") requiring you to make decisions possibly (still not sure if it's random or not) affecting the outcome of their Mission. For example, one Mission has your Team trying to get a Client to the movies (exciting stuff for Secret Agents, I know) and the battery on their phone is running out (so they called you and drained their battery even further. Smart Team you've got there.) They have enough power to check movie times or traffic conditions, and they want to know what to do. (Pop Quiz, Hot Shot! What do you do? What. Do. You. Do?) In my case I told them to check the traffic, so what happened? They called back to say "The traffic looks fine." Now I was worried that I should have checked the movie times in case there was a later showing, but I worried for nothing because they made it on time. Well of course they did, because they didn't encounter any traffic problems.
You're not really micromanaging your Teams on their missions. Usually you'll make 2-3 decisions per Team Mission at most, but when you've got 4 Teams out on Missions that adds up to 8-12 decisions you might have to make. Throw in that the Teams will often call in just to let you know there are no problems, and you literally can be balancing on an I-beam when a call comes in. "Everything is fine? That's great! Can I get back to trying not to fall 40-feet to my death now? I can? Thank you!"
Actually you can't die, at least not that I've found. So if you ever do fall off a rafter, I-beam, etc, you'll either land on the ground below or miraculously reappear at the beginning of your rafter, I-beam, etc. This is a MySims game, after all. It's designed for the kids, but it's sufficiently well done that it has a lot of 'grown-up kid' appeal, too. It doesn't have flashy graphics or gratuitous cleavage shots, there's occasional clipping in the animation, and it can be rather linear, but it's still a very well done adventure game that's fun for the whole family (except maybe 13-year old Jimmy who'd rather be playing Soul Caliber, and I can't fault him for that ;)
Thursday, April 09, 2009
LG Vu
Liz and I picked up new phones on the weekend after a run-in with a cup of coffee took her Razr out of commission. Initially she was just going to get herself a new phone but we noticed AT&T had cunningly decided to have a 2-for-1 sale on their LG Vu and as that was the phone Liz had her eyes on, I ended up getting one too.
It's a pretty good phone, reception is quite clear and calls are very audible, although when using Speaker-phone, if a caller raises their voice too much it becomes distorted.
Like the iPhone it's a predominantly touch screen phone (with 3 regular buttons, and a couple of side buttons) and it works very well, although the on-screen slider is sometimes a little dodgy, but maybe that's me and my big thumbs.
What I'm not too pleased with is the flimsy plastic cover over the combined headset/power socket, which has to be pried open every time you need to charge your phone. I had a similar power socket cover on my Razr, which snapped off shortly after I got it, and I can see this happening with the Vu as well. Especially given the goodies that come with it can make charging the Vu an almost nightly affair if you want to be able to use your phone when you need to.
Our upgraded contact came with AT&T Mobile TV and watching TV on your phone is surprisingly easy, especially on the Vu's 3" screen (that's just 1/2" smaller than the iPhone). After eating at Souplantation last night I took the kids home while the wife went on to run some errands, and the bunny's tears at not going with Mommy quickly dried up when Spongebob Squarepants appeared on my phone. Listening in as we drove home, even though I took the Freeway, not once did I hear the skip or stutter I occasionally get while watching on my bus ride into work (I blame the bus's suspension). Incredibly, around 5th & Grand in downtown L.A., as in right in the heart of the CBD, my phone loses the Mobile TV signal. It can make and receive calls just fine, and even surf the 'net, but it will not do Mobile TV past that point. I'm sure somewhere south of my office the signal picks back up again (probably closer to the residential area or around USC), but right now I'm unable to get a signal, even though I'm right across the road from AT&T's HQ!!!
Okay, back. Sorry about that. Just conducted a little experiment. I walked across the road to the AT&T building, and I can't get Mobile TV there, either. The Vu did start to acquire the signal but couldn't establish a connection and was forced to admit defeat. Sad. Not a fault with the Vu though, more with AT&T's Mobile TV.
The games that come preloaded with the Vu are a sad bunch, and although the Vu is a touch screen-capable phone most games throw up a virtual keypad, so instead of playing the game by touching the playing field and giving your avatar directions, selecting puzzle pieces, etc, the Vu asks you to press virtual arrow keys at the bottom of the screen. The arrows are not even in an intuitive + or T formation, but are in a straight line across the bottom of the screen so you have to look away from the action to make sure you're pressing the correct button.
At least Bejeweled asks you to touch the Jewels in the gameboard, and considering how small each jewel is I rarely selected the wrong one, but it's a Timed Demo/Trial that lasted barely a minute before telling me I needed to buy the game to keep playing. I checked out the other Demos and they were all the same. Very sad was the Timed Trial/Demo of Midnight Pool, for which I made one shot (the Break) then sat back and watched my computer(phone?)-controlled opponent make several shots in a row and that was it. Trial/Demo over. Do you want to buy the full game? I had Midnight Pool on my Razr but I think I'll pass this time around.
Then there's the cool Internet feature. Moving into the 21st Century I can check my Yahoo! email and even log into Facebook via my phone, which to those who've had it for a while is probably no big deal, but I think it's pretty cool.
The Vu also comes with a 2.0-Megapixel camera, which is pretty impressive for a phone, and it can (apparently) take photos up to 1600x1200 resolution. The video camera is not so hot, and can only manage 320x240, which is more than enough to watch short, home movies on your cellphone, but not really "burn a DVD to send home for Christmas" quality. It comes with a 2x zoom, but as it's purely digital zoom, not true optical, you really don't want to be zooming in with it. Besides, there's really something wrong if you're using your phone to capture those happy family moments. That's what cameras are for :P
When all is said and done the Vu is not an iPhone (but is that really a Con?), but it's still an excellent touch-screen phone in its own right, and is (currently) capable of doing things the iPhone cannot...such as sending photographs via Txt (aka MMS). Remember the ad where the young couple is in some Asian country? One of them is out seeing the City when the urge to use the restroom struck. The language barrier escalated the situation but their phone came to the rescue when the person in their hotel room sent a photograph of their toilet to the stricken one's phone and saved the day. Yeah. For everything it can do, the iPhone (currently) cannot do that.
It's a pretty good phone, reception is quite clear and calls are very audible, although when using Speaker-phone, if a caller raises their voice too much it becomes distorted.
Like the iPhone it's a predominantly touch screen phone (with 3 regular buttons, and a couple of side buttons) and it works very well, although the on-screen slider is sometimes a little dodgy, but maybe that's me and my big thumbs.
What I'm not too pleased with is the flimsy plastic cover over the combined headset/power socket, which has to be pried open every time you need to charge your phone. I had a similar power socket cover on my Razr, which snapped off shortly after I got it, and I can see this happening with the Vu as well. Especially given the goodies that come with it can make charging the Vu an almost nightly affair if you want to be able to use your phone when you need to.
Our upgraded contact came with AT&T Mobile TV and watching TV on your phone is surprisingly easy, especially on the Vu's 3" screen (that's just 1/2" smaller than the iPhone). After eating at Souplantation last night I took the kids home while the wife went on to run some errands, and the bunny's tears at not going with Mommy quickly dried up when Spongebob Squarepants appeared on my phone. Listening in as we drove home, even though I took the Freeway, not once did I hear the skip or stutter I occasionally get while watching on my bus ride into work (I blame the bus's suspension). Incredibly, around 5th & Grand in downtown L.A., as in right in the heart of the CBD, my phone loses the Mobile TV signal. It can make and receive calls just fine, and even surf the 'net, but it will not do Mobile TV past that point. I'm sure somewhere south of my office the signal picks back up again (probably closer to the residential area or around USC), but right now I'm unable to get a signal, even though I'm right across the road from AT&T's HQ!!!
Okay, back. Sorry about that. Just conducted a little experiment. I walked across the road to the AT&T building, and I can't get Mobile TV there, either. The Vu did start to acquire the signal but couldn't establish a connection and was forced to admit defeat. Sad. Not a fault with the Vu though, more with AT&T's Mobile TV.
The games that come preloaded with the Vu are a sad bunch, and although the Vu is a touch screen-capable phone most games throw up a virtual keypad, so instead of playing the game by touching the playing field and giving your avatar directions, selecting puzzle pieces, etc, the Vu asks you to press virtual arrow keys at the bottom of the screen. The arrows are not even in an intuitive + or T formation, but are in a straight line across the bottom of the screen so you have to look away from the action to make sure you're pressing the correct button.
At least Bejeweled asks you to touch the Jewels in the gameboard, and considering how small each jewel is I rarely selected the wrong one, but it's a Timed Demo/Trial that lasted barely a minute before telling me I needed to buy the game to keep playing. I checked out the other Demos and they were all the same. Very sad was the Timed Trial/Demo of Midnight Pool, for which I made one shot (the Break) then sat back and watched my computer(phone?)-controlled opponent make several shots in a row and that was it. Trial/Demo over. Do you want to buy the full game? I had Midnight Pool on my Razr but I think I'll pass this time around.
Then there's the cool Internet feature. Moving into the 21st Century I can check my Yahoo! email and even log into Facebook via my phone, which to those who've had it for a while is probably no big deal, but I think it's pretty cool.
The Vu also comes with a 2.0-Megapixel camera, which is pretty impressive for a phone, and it can (apparently) take photos up to 1600x1200 resolution. The video camera is not so hot, and can only manage 320x240, which is more than enough to watch short, home movies on your cellphone, but not really "burn a DVD to send home for Christmas" quality. It comes with a 2x zoom, but as it's purely digital zoom, not true optical, you really don't want to be zooming in with it. Besides, there's really something wrong if you're using your phone to capture those happy family moments. That's what cameras are for :P
When all is said and done the Vu is not an iPhone (but is that really a Con?), but it's still an excellent touch-screen phone in its own right, and is (currently) capable of doing things the iPhone cannot...such as sending photographs via Txt (aka MMS). Remember the ad where the young couple is in some Asian country? One of them is out seeing the City when the urge to use the restroom struck. The language barrier escalated the situation but their phone came to the rescue when the person in their hotel room sent a photograph of their toilet to the stricken one's phone and saved the day. Yeah. For everything it can do, the iPhone (currently) cannot do that.
Thursday, January 26, 2006
SON OF A BITCH!!!
It wasn't a Double-Whammy; It was a Fucking Triple-Whammy!!!
The follow "review" is contains excessive spoilers. You have been warned.
I've been reading James Patterson's "Suzanne's Diary For Nicholas" on the bus to and from work the last couple of days. Yeah, I know the title and cover make it look like a romance. I've already read a few romance novels in my time. What's one more?
The story is mostly made up of, as the name implies, entries in a journal by Suzanne to Nicholas, her son. She talks about him as she goes through her pregnancy, made complicated by a heart condition (she actually has a heart attack early in the story, prior to her becoming pregnant), then about Nicholas' early accomplishments. How he slept through most nights at just two weeks old, how he held his bottle for himself at two months old. A lot of the entries are about her time with Nicholas and his father, Matt, and about how lucky they are that Suzanne didn't die of her heart attack, and and how every day is one more day they get to spend together.
In the present, Matt has disappeared, leaving the journal for his editor, Katie, who is also his current girlfriend. Accompanying the journal is a note that some parts may be difficult for Katie to read. Katie's initial reaction is that Matt has left her to go back to Suzanne and Nicholas, and Katie is distraught because she is pregnant with Matt's child.
Near the end of the journal Suzanne falls pregnant for a second time, but her heart condition worsens and her doctor suggests she abort; Suzanne refuses, and her condition continues to gets worse. To me, it appeared unclear whether or not Suzanne had an abortion, a miscarriage (when she fell down a flight of stairs), or if she continued with the pregnancy. Matt tells her he could not stand losing her, yet he supports her decision not to have an abortion, and so the journal continues.
Shortly after Nicholas's first birthday Matt takes over writing, because while driving into town one day Suzanne has a heart attack and drives off a bridge. She dies, of course. Matt would never have cheated on her with Katie (or vice versa) because he's a great guy.
I'm getting a little choked up at this point but I'm still doing okat so I continue to read...until Matt starts telling Nicholas how his own father died when he was just eight years old, and how much it hurt him. We know this from earlier in the story, but for me, losing my own father just last year, I had to put the book down at this point and compose myself. Donning my shades, staring out the window, repeating "I'm not crying! I'm not!" to myself. Things like that.
Just before the bus pulls into the El Monte Bus Station I feel ready, so I pull the book out and continue reading because I've only got a few pages to go.
Matt writes to Nicholas, telling him how he wished he'd taken Suzanne in his arms and kissed her goodbye that one last time, but she'd had her arms full so she'd just blown him a kiss (sans hands, I guess) as she walked out to the car.
Matt tells Nicholas how he looked so cute, waving back at him and smiling, as Suzanne strapped him into his car seat...before driving into town that one last time.
Yes, Katie and Matt get back together, and get married, and live happily ever after. But Suzanne and Nicholas and Suzanne's unborn child? They're all still dead.
James Patterson, you're a son of a bitch, you know that?
The follow "review" is contains excessive spoilers. You have been warned.
I've been reading James Patterson's "Suzanne's Diary For Nicholas" on the bus to and from work the last couple of days. Yeah, I know the title and cover make it look like a romance. I've already read a few romance novels in my time. What's one more?
The story is mostly made up of, as the name implies, entries in a journal by Suzanne to Nicholas, her son. She talks about him as she goes through her pregnancy, made complicated by a heart condition (she actually has a heart attack early in the story, prior to her becoming pregnant), then about Nicholas' early accomplishments. How he slept through most nights at just two weeks old, how he held his bottle for himself at two months old. A lot of the entries are about her time with Nicholas and his father, Matt, and about how lucky they are that Suzanne didn't die of her heart attack, and and how every day is one more day they get to spend together.
In the present, Matt has disappeared, leaving the journal for his editor, Katie, who is also his current girlfriend. Accompanying the journal is a note that some parts may be difficult for Katie to read. Katie's initial reaction is that Matt has left her to go back to Suzanne and Nicholas, and Katie is distraught because she is pregnant with Matt's child.
Near the end of the journal Suzanne falls pregnant for a second time, but her heart condition worsens and her doctor suggests she abort; Suzanne refuses, and her condition continues to gets worse. To me, it appeared unclear whether or not Suzanne had an abortion, a miscarriage (when she fell down a flight of stairs), or if she continued with the pregnancy. Matt tells her he could not stand losing her, yet he supports her decision not to have an abortion, and so the journal continues.
Shortly after Nicholas's first birthday Matt takes over writing, because while driving into town one day Suzanne has a heart attack and drives off a bridge. She dies, of course. Matt would never have cheated on her with Katie (or vice versa) because he's a great guy.
I'm getting a little choked up at this point but I'm still doing okat so I continue to read...until Matt starts telling Nicholas how his own father died when he was just eight years old, and how much it hurt him. We know this from earlier in the story, but for me, losing my own father just last year, I had to put the book down at this point and compose myself. Donning my shades, staring out the window, repeating "I'm not crying! I'm not!" to myself. Things like that.
Just before the bus pulls into the El Monte Bus Station I feel ready, so I pull the book out and continue reading because I've only got a few pages to go.
Matt writes to Nicholas, telling him how he wished he'd taken Suzanne in his arms and kissed her goodbye that one last time, but she'd had her arms full so she'd just blown him a kiss (sans hands, I guess) as she walked out to the car.
Matt tells Nicholas how he looked so cute, waving back at him and smiling, as Suzanne strapped him into his car seat...before driving into town that one last time.
Yes, Katie and Matt get back together, and get married, and live happily ever after. But Suzanne and Nicholas and Suzanne's unborn child? They're all still dead.
James Patterson, you're a son of a bitch, you know that?
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