Top Ten of 2011: Mortal Kombat

By Matt White

Of course, the views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not those of the Open Forum Radio Network as a whole. That said lets kontinue the count down with number seven.

Number Seven: Mortal Kombat

In a year of sequels where it seems like every thing was a second game or third game in their respected series, this one was a complete reboot. I think that after the last few games including the dismal “Mortal Kombat VS. DC Universe” that if it were to come back that it would need a total overhaul and reboot. That is exactly what happened. The studio that was in charge of this was Netherealm Studios, which is headed by “Mortal Kombat” vet Ed Boon. With him back at the helm this game had to be good right? Read on my friends.

The past few years have seen a major resurgence in the fighting genre. There have been a few additions to the “Street Fighter” legacy and others such as “BlazBlue” and “Marvel VS. Capcom 3” While the only one of those I have played was “MVC3” I can say that with the number put out in the past year or two were staggering, but where was the old stand by “Mortal Kombat” Well since Midway went out of business and their licenses sold off, Warner Bros. Interactive picked up the rights to the “Mortal Kombat” series. While “MK VS DCU” was not the best game in the world, far from it, it did say that there was hope for this franchise.

In 2011 Ed Boon and his team released “Mortal Kombat” to the masses. As a long time “MK” fan I decided to play this game as I had enjoyed most entries in the series to some extent. When I popped the game in I was greeted by more options that what I expected out of this game from the different ladder modes that are present in most all “MK” games but also a story mode. I was curious about how a fighting game could really do a story mode out side of maybe just a couple of cut scenes for each player. I was greatly surprised when I started it up. The story mode was smart, fun and lengthy. All of which fighting games really are not known for too much. One thing that I really enjoyed was the story mode made you use just about, if not every fighter in the game, at one point or another. It really gave you a sense of the whole overall story line, along with having you use characters that you normally just would not use. As for length, I believe that the story mode took me about 10 hours to complete which is really unheard of. I didn’t think that it drug on at any point and the pacing was really well done. Fun factor came from seeing just how many different combos that I could pull off and enjoying the well thought out story. Playing this game on the Playstation 3 I was able to use Kratos as a playable character. While he really wasn’t a part of the story line, it was fun to use him with the “Blades of Chaos”. The team really outdid themselves with the post release content. They added 4 more selectable characters including the original bladed nightmare himself, Freddy Krueger. While he also really had no part in the story it added that little extra to the game.

All in all it this game was a great surprise for me and quite possibly a lot of other gamers out there. I know that the team has supported it post launch with numerous patches and dealing with balancing issues. They really didn’t have to do that but, they did and proved that this series is really here to stay. Just once I would love to hear Scorpion say “Let’s Get It!!”

Top Ten Games of 2011: Assassin’s Creed:Revelations

By Matt White

In this continuing series of articles on what my top games of the year are please keep in mind that these opinions are my own and do not reflect the the opinions of the open forum radio network as a whole. With that in mind we are down to number 8: Assassin’s Creed Revelations.

This was a game that I was super hyped up for. I had finished “Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood” earlier this year and was eager to continue the saga in this installation. By the title you would figure that it would tie up a lot of the loose ends that this series is known for. While you do get a few answers, it just wasn’t as many as I would have liked. Upon finishing this game and thinking back on the story line from the games I was reminded of the last season or two of “Lost” on television. It was almost like you could see where it was going, but you didn’t want it too. That being said I did enjoy this game for what it was and that is a great semi open world action game.

This game gave us a few new features in one of our favorite series of games. The first would be that of the hookblade. Now I loved using the hookblade for a lot of things. First of all it helped with the tightrope sections. You could just slide across the wire instead of trying to walk or run across it. The other two major new features I really did not care for. The new bomb making mechanic was decent. I could see how they would be useful, but I just didn’t find myself using them all too much. There were many different combinations that you could use to kill, distract, or even make the guards thing they are hurt in the case of the lambs blood bomb. The last new feature was the whole “den defense” aspect or what most people would call town defense. Now I have never really played a tower defense game and didn’t do too well when this mini game came up. Most of the time I just let the templars take the bases back just so I could attack them and get them back for me.

On to story of the game, it finished up Altiar and Ezio’s stories up pretty well. It gave you pretty much the only ending that it could give. Desmond’s ending really wasn’t an ending. While I did somewhat enjoy the “puzzle” parts myself. They were a somewhat refreshing part to a game that had just become the same thing as the last. That said, they really didn’t seem to advance his story too far which for me was a bit disparaging. I wish they would have done more. With the next game in this series set for this coming November, I for one would hope that they do a lot more advancing of the story.

The graphics and fun factor were there. I have really enjoyed the aging process on poor Ezio. To see him from pretty much a teenager in “Assassin’s Creed II” to being just an old man with tricks in “Assassin’s Creed: Revelations”. The models used for characters have gotten better in each game in the series. The combat was fun as it has been in the previous 2 games. I do have to say that as far as “fun factor” goes I can honestly say that not much was added to make the game more fun for me. All in all if this game was just a bit better and did not seem to suffer from the somewhat short dev cycle it would have ranked a lot higher on this list. Although number 8 is still a respectable spot

The wait is over.  Capcom swings back at the Silent Hill series releasing three games in March with an announcement trailer for Resident Evil 6.  The trailer involves Leon Kennedy shooting zombies in the face.  But the madness doesn’t stop there.  Chris Redfield’s triceps return for another go.

This was apparently foreseen.  On Wednesday, the internet buzzed with rumors that the website NoHopeLeft.com was a viral campaign for Resident Evil 6.  Once again, the internet was right.  You can jump in on the genocidal zombie action on November 20, 2012 when the game launches.

Top Games Of 2011: Deus Ex: Human Revolution

By Matt White

In this continuing series of articles I go over my top games of last year. I will preface this by saying that this is my opinion based on the time that I had with the game and what I honestly thought of it, not how the specs were. So without any more of a wait, Number 9: Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

While this game was not on my radar from the initial press release, after a few friends from the network started to fuel up the hype train on this game I started to pay attention. Not having played the first two games in this series, I felt I was kinda at a loss. Not really knowing the story behind the game until I figured out that this was supposed to be a prequel to the first “Deus Ex” game.

With this being a “play it how you want” type of game, I believe that it did succeed to some level on delivering that. Most of the areas were large in space, even if you couldn’t go inside of a lot of buildings. There were a few side quests in each area to complete before you needed to move on to the next. The shooting aspect was competent if that was how you wanted to play the game, as a shooter. If you didn’t really care to do that and wanted to go stealthy instead? Well that made the game a lot tougher; especially when it came to the boss battles in this game. Boss battles that developer Square-Enix has since stated that they farmed out to another company and was not really their doing.

You were able to beef up your Adam Jensen with a number of different “perks”. Most just facilitated different play styles. Myself, I played through as a run and gunner. This helped me in those fights that you couldn’t avoid and let me take out people in others that could be. As far as replay in this title goes, it goes as far as the number of play styles that you can create. There was one piece of DLC released for this game called “Missing Link”, which I have not played, that was supposed to be good. Due to the somewhat low sales of it, there hasn’t been any more created. Also as far as replay value does, this does not have any form of multiplayer to speak of.

Bottom line is after a few months, if you like game that can in certain points make you think this game would be great for you. If you do not care about competitive multiplayer, then this game is for you. Other than that, I would say it would be a good Gamefly rental or if you can find it in the bargain bins at your local brick and mortar or online. In any other year this game might have reached my top five, but with a few glaring weaknesses I cannot put it up there this year.

Please keep in mind that this list is my opinion only and should not reflect the views of the rest of the staff at Open Forum Radio. Thank you for your time and keep an eye out on what I think is number 7 in this countdown, it might just surprise you

Top Ten Games That I Have Played From 2011

By Matt White

In what I will attempt to be daily articles over the next week and a half I will go back through my catalog of titles I have played from last year and see what ranks where. These can either be Playstation 3 titles, Xbox 360 titles or downloadable games from their prospective networks. I have been through the gauntlet of titles this year with this being my first whole year owning a Playstation 3 and also adding Gamefly rental service. There have been a lot of hits this year with a few games that ended up being duds, in my opinion. So without making you wait any longer I will start this list at number 10 on this list

Marvel Pinball (Zen Pinball Marvel, Pinball FX Marvel) PSN/Xbox360

I had fooled around with many video pinball games through out the years including Pinbot on the original NES. While some of them where just pure cash in attempts on pinball lovers everywhere, Zen Studios have come up with something great. While Zen has been doing original tables for their respective games, this was the first time they were charged to do a set of them. Disney/Marvel Entertainment must have seen something in this company to put their faith in Zen to create something great with one of their biggest universes.

The original set of tables that came out included “Wolverine”, “The Amazing Spider-Man”, “Blade”, and “Iron Man”. This was a great starter pack at a great value for $10 or 800 MSP. With this pack Zen gave me great selection of tables, long hours of play, and somewhat of a high score chase with my brother. Now each table has its own difficulty level that can be changed, and also different bonus modes that can help you rack up those high score that are fun to get to and play. I can remember many nights when I got little sleep because I thought “Oh just one more game”. This title delivered for me in replay value. I still go back to these tables to this day. Playstation Network just offered this title free for their PSN Plus membership subscription and if you didn’t pick it up when you had the opportunity to do so, you deserve a kick in the pants.

So what does the future of this title hold? That is anyone’s guess. Marvel has trusted them to do more tables. If this is a cash grab on their part or true faith in Zens ability is beyond me. 6 more tables have been released including “Captain America”, “Fantastic Four”, “Ghost Rider”, “Thor”, “Moon Knight”, And “X-Men”. What other heroes or villians might they be planning for future tables is anyone’s guess, but if anyone out there is decision making powers is listening I would love to see a “Punisher” table. Frank Castle can save the world one bullet at a time

Reviewed by Lamar Kukuk
12/27/11

The Mission:  Impossible movie franchise was born at a uniquely strange time in the evolution of the modern blockbuster, when studios had begun to fully commit to raiding their vaults for remakes and adaptations of TV series but had not yet gotten a clue that it was the fans of those pre-existing properties that were their target audience.  As such, M:I, the popular late-60’s espionage series about a team of agents became a star vehicle for Tom Cruise who played a team of one in Brian DePalma’s diverting but forgettable flick that made sure no one confused the filmmakers with fans of the series by allowing original IMF leader Jim Phelps (then played by Jon Voigt) to die only after revealing he was a traitor.  But either way, money rolled in and a franchise without a direction or purpose was born.  Latching on to Hong Kong director John Woo’s success with Face/Off, he was hired to helm Mission:  Impossible 2, a laughable unintentional parody of his best work that again grossed money hand over fist but left Cruise and the Paramount suits knowing they still needed to find some kind of point and direction for his cypherous IMF hero Ethan Hunt.  Enter JJ Abrams, the TV mogul looking to make his feature directorial debut.  He and the team responsible for the cult TV series Alias finally licked the whole Mission:  Impossible thing with M:I3, which gave Hunt a wife, a life, friends, a workplace and, dare I say it, stakes.  Then something really nasty happened:  a series of PR missteps caused Cruise to fall out of favor with the public and it seemed that the underperforming sequel would be Hunt’s swan song.  But that’s the thing about franchises, they provide actors with a safe harbor during the valleys of their careers and under the producorial eye of Abrams, with many of the Alias team intact and Incredibles animation wiz Brad Bird making his live action directorial debut, the series finally hits a new high note five and a half years later with Mission:  Impossible-Ghost Protocol, which does everything the original M:I got wrong right, building a solid team in a slam-bang espionage thriller packed with amazing stunts.  Most of all, it really understands the human dynamic necessary to make an action blockbuster run.  Who cares if Ethan Hunt prevails if he’s an indestructible superman?  But if it takes everything he’s got to turn his amp to 11… well, THAT’S a movie hero, and Mission:  Impossible-Ghost Protocol is a globetrotting spy action flick of the highest order.

Read the full review here: http://www.lamarsmoviepalace.com/missionimpossiblegp.html

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

What’s that sound?  Oh, that’s just the International Bestseller Hype Machine arriving on the scene with yet another screen adaptation of a novel obsessed over by millions who’ve already got their knives drawn should it fail to be anything less than exactly what they saw in their heads when they read it.  Personally, I’ve never read Stieg Larsson’s Internationally beloved Millennium Trilogy nor seen any of the Swedish film versions produced a few years back, so I come into David Fincher’s adaptation/remake of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo without preconceptions or a checklist of stuff I demand to see.  You can certainly tell this is a film version of a beloved book because it lingers over irrelevant details and goes on way too long.  It’s also a pretty good mystery, highlighted by some great performances, but I don’t need to be a devoted reader to know that what makes these books a phenomenon is the character of Lisbeth Salander, embodied here in an astonishingly fearless performance by Rooney Mara.  Lisbeth is like nothing we’ve seen before, a punk genius with the thought process of a criminal mastermind and the collective fury of every woman who’s ever been the victim of sexual assault.  She’s cleverly paired with Daniel Craig’s endearingly frumpy journalist hero to investigate a solid mystery full of lurid details.  Lurid is Dragon’s middle name, and Fincher’s trademark observational chilliness serves the material well.  There’s stuff here far more graphic and disturbing than the MPAA ordinarily allows (I suspect the thought process went something like this:  It’s worse in the International Bestseller, and how could an International Bestseller by NC-17?), and you should certainly go in knowing that you’re going to see the Mother of All Disturbing Rape Scenes.  Of course, you’re also going to see The Mother of All Revenges on Said Rapist, which will make it more than worth the trouble for some viewers.  Spit on your grave?  Man, for Lisbeth Salander, that’s just letting the guy off easy.

Read the full review here:

http://www.lamarsmoviepalace.com/girlwiththedragontattoo.html

Lets Get it!!!

Around this time last year I made my first ever appearance on a podcast, It was a video game show called The Post Game Report. A couple of months after that I made my second appearance on a show, this time The Pimps Corner with Harold Leavitt and his Co Hosts. (including Scoba1).

That spurred me onto to create my own podcast show and using a title that was initially thought up for a bookstore, FromPage2Screen was born. From then on things went from strength to strength with the inclusion of a permanent co host in Harold Leavitt and many guests over the following months. Actors like Brooke Lewis, Ace Marrero and Nabil Elouhabi, film producers like John Foutz and Dexter Goad all making appearances.

But the big change in the FromPage2Screen lifespan was its inclusion into the Open Forum Radio Network, where guest slots opened up and I was able to tap into more advice and as much assistance as I needed.

I just wanted to post this blog for a couple of reasons. 1 is for any podcasters out there who need assistance, drop me a line or even anyone of the guys and girls within this network. They are awesome to work with. Otherwise the FromPage2Screen shows wouldnt be on the network and I wouldnt be writing this to them and to you.

Secondly I wanted to thank everyone within the OFR for their help in making 2011 a huge year for the Fp2S world and I look forward to 2012.

OFR Spotlight

By vladzhammer

(click link below to read the rest of the story)http://vladzhammer.wordpress.com/2011/11/13/ofr-spotlight/