Top 10 Games of 2013 - Mike Gregory

In descending order:

10 - GTA 5

Not much to be said that you haven't already heard. Its GTA, if you like GTA, you will like GTA 5. Tons of variety in missions, stock market is fun to play with. I finished the story, then was pretty much done with the game, the online mode is pretty lame.

9 - Guacamelee 

An old school side scroller metroidvania game starring luchadors. Co-op mode makes it even more fun. Punch, suplex and drop kick your way through legions of enemies while gaining upgrades for your luchador to access new areas. Loved the other video game franchise refernces (Los Super Hermanos, Mega Hombre, Los Casa Crashers)

8 - Saints Row 4

Like GTA 5, only more fun and over the top, and its CO-OP. Not a better made game than GTA5, but definitely more fun, especially with a friend. The weapons and powers are a blast to play with. The super powers make the world traversal so much fun. Humour is very crass and lude, so if that bothers you, skip it.

7 - Tales of Xillia

Another great entry in the Tales series. Great combat mechanics that allow for a lot of variety and strategy in battle. Best JRPG I have played in a while.  Fun upgrade system for shops, farm for materials, upgrade the shops to get discounts and better loot.

6 - Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

Beautiful RPG in the style of studio Ghibli. Looks and sounds amazing. Addictive collection mechanic where you are always trying to recruit and improve new minions.  Partner AI is extremely stupid at times which makes some fights harder than they should be

5 - Rogue Legacy

Side scroller action game where you constantly improve your character. Die in the dungeon, upgrade your character and re try.  Challenging and rewarding, and can be played in quick sessions, or for hours at a time if you feel like it.

4 - Card Hunter

Free to play browser based collectible card turn based battle game. Cards are tied to your equipment, find a new sword after a fight, equip it to earn the cards tied to it. Change your loadout to prepare for different enemies. There is a payment option tied to the game, but you can play the entire campaign without buying anything. Very addictive, and you can play anywhere, just log in to the site and continue your campaign. Have not tried the multiplayer, but the campaign is fantastic.

3 - Last of Us

Great story, great gameplay. Violent and engaging. I loved almost every minute of this game, there were a few parts where I was getting frustrated by the gameplay.

2 - The Legend of Zelda: Link between worlds

A sequel to my all time favourite Zelda game (A link to the past). Great old school zelda game.  Mixes up the gameplay from the usual zelda formula by allowing you to choose the order of dungeons you complete instead of the more linear path the games usually follow

1 - Tomb Raider

I've always been a tomb raider fan, and this has got to be my favourite. It looks gorgeous and plays great. In my opinion, this is better than any of the Uncharted games. The first game in ages that I 100% completed, finished the story, and found all collectibles.  There is a multiplayer mode which I did not even bother with, there is no need for it in a game like this. Some of the death scenes are brutal!

Honourable Mentions

Assassins Creed 4

The best in the Assassins Creed franchise. Open world pirate game, sail around, attack other ships, explore islands, hunt, craft, and assassinate. Tons of fun, but I have not put enough time in yet to put it on my top 10 list.

Battlefield 4

If it weren't for the bugs, crashes and general network bullshit, this game would be in my top 10. I have more time in this game than any other this year, but its a mess some times. When it works, its great, when it doesn't, you will wanna rip your hair out. Some times you will kill someone in 1 burst, other times you will empty 100 bullets into their back only for them to do a 180 and drop you with a pistol.

The Legend of Zelda - Wind Waker HD

HD remake of the older Gamecube zelda. Looks great in HD, and the Wii U tablet works really well with the game. Tons of fun just sailing around the ocean.

Letdowns 

Bioshock

This game is probably on several people's best of lists, but I really did not like it. It looks pretty, the story had a cool ending, but that's about the only positives I can think of. Boring repetitive gameplay, I ended up just using the same weapons and tonics through the majority of the game. Most of the combat just wasn't fun at all.

Killzone

Another game that looks pretty...and that's about it. The game has lost its dirty grimy feeling of the older entries in the series, it just feels like a generic sci fi shooter now. The story is bland, I'm struggling to finish it, I can play like 5 - 10 mins then get bored with it. The Multiplayer shows promise, but the user population is very low already (700 people online last time i checked). The Multi player ideas are great, I like the switching objectives, but I find it just does not work. Like Battlefield 4 only worse, it takes like 50 bullets to kill someone, and 1 bullet to die, just not fun

Call of Duty: Ghosts

Awful, just plain awful. I buy the new COD every year, they're always good for some brainless run and gun action. This one is just a mess. The maps are garbage, it looks like crap, it plays like crap. The campaign is boring and the online is the worse implementation the series has ever had. You'd think by making the same game every year they would be able to improve on it, but it seems like they just get worse and worse. Spawn system is far worse than it ever has been, if you manage to get the smallest kill streak going, the game will spawn several people directly behind you to stop that.

Arkham Origins

The first 2 batman games are fantastic. This one is pretty much the same, only more buggy. I had several crashes and freezes playing through the campaign. They decided to add a multiplayer option for some odd reason, really doesn't need to be there in a game like this.  The combat did not feel as precise to me as the older ones either, I felt like I was missing combos that I should have connected on. Sometimes Batman will just start punching thin air instead of targeting an enemy like you would want. The game was fun, it wasn't a bad game by any means, just more of the same, but with more bugs and problems.

Top 10 Movies of 2013 - Mike Gregory

In no particular Order

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa

I didn't know anything about this movie besides Steve Coogan being in it, which is enough to get a watch from me. The movie hilarious, Coogan is brilliant as always, a must see movie

The Conjuring

Great creepy haunted house movie, doesn't rely on too many jump scares. Just a good atmosphere, story and characters.
 

Pacific Rim

Giant Monsters vs. Giant Robots, of course I loved it.  The story is nothing fantastic, its very cliched, and illogical at parts, but I had a blast watching it.

The Worlds End

Another great movie in the cornetto trilogy. It is probably my least favourite of the 3, but its still a fantastic movie. Great gags, lots of fun, lots of beer. Once the movie gets going, its non stop action, fun and laughs.

The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug

Such an improvement over The Hobbit part 1. Still drawn out too much, should have trimmed much of the fat down, but I was not pissed off watching this one. I was entertained through the entire movie, where the last one I just felt like every scene dragged on for too long. Lots of action, much better paced, looks and sounds amazing.

Oz The Great and Powerful

Colourful, Fun, and wonderful. The story and set pieces were fun, the effects were fantastic. The movie really felt like an older Sam Raimi movie to me, really enjoyed it.

Wolverine

I had low expectations before watching  but was pleasantly surprised with this one. The Japanese setting was a nice new take on the characters.  Yukio was a bad ass, and her pairing with wolverine was fun to watch. Great action scenes, not a perfect comic book movie, but it sure was fun to watch.

Warm Bodies

A charming, funny and clever.Zombie take on Romeo and Juliet. I really enjoyed hearing R's (Nicholas Hoult) inner dialogue, struggling to stay human in his zombie body.

Evil dead

Gory, Creepy, and different enough from the original to warrant a remake. Good remakes are hard to do, if its too close to the original, then whats the point of remaking it? If it deviates too much, then you piss off the original fans. I found this movie to land a perfect balance between the 2, the story and setting are the same as the original, but events unfold in differently. Do not watch if you are squeamish at all though, very gory!

Byzantium

A different, intelligent, well written vampire movie. I was thoroughly engaged and fascinated through the entire story.  Great performances by the 2 lead actresses Gemma Arterton and Saoirse Ronan.
The movie has a similar feel to Interview with the Vampire (also directed by Neil Jordan), but I enjoyed Byzantium much more than Interview


Hopefully I haven't skipped over any movies that I really enjoyed this year. This list was made from memory

Letdowns of the year

Man of Steel

I'm not really a big super man fan at all, but this movie I just found boring. I like most of Zack Snyder's movies, and Christopher Nolan had some input on this one as well, but I just did not find this movie entertaining  at all.

Elysium

I loved District 9, this one...not so much. I had really high hopes for Elysium, and it just didn't live up. It had the same look and feel as D9, but just not nearly as fun.

Iron Man 3

Movie: Iron Man 3

Format: Theatre

I don’t want to get in to the plot since the movie is still new and I don’t want to spoil anything, I did enjoy the movie though.  It was better than Part 2, not as good as part 1, it was a loud, explosion filled, and humorous continuation of the iron man series, as well as The Avengers movie.  The new enemy “The Mandarin” was an interesting choice, I enjoyed the angle they took on him, it was clever and surprising, but it will most likely enrage fans of the comics. When movies deviate too far from the source material, people get angry. I don’t understand why movies can’t just come up with a new character if they want to change the character so drastically.  The X-Men origins movie was a good example of this, why call him deadpool when that clearly isn’t what deadpool is in the comics, just make up a new name, problem solved.  There were a few things with the ending that I didn’t quite get, or understand why, but cannot really mention without spoiling.  The final action scene I thought was actually kind of disappointing really

Overall I found the movie to be quite entertaining, I was never bored at any point throughout the movie, but also not blown away. Robert Downey Jr. was spot on as Iron Man again, he pretty much is Tony Stark in real life at this point. The supporting cast was really good as well, Guy Pearce and Rebecca Hall had great roles, and even the child actor wasn’t too annoying, surprisingly.  If you enjoyed the previous Iron Man movies, I don’t see why you wouldn’t like this one, it’s more of the same, nothing new but still a good action movie.   

7/10 

Recent movie viewings

Just some quick thoughts on movies I’ve watched recently

Maniac (2012)  

Score: 7/10

The music, and the cinematography were cool, creepy story, more weird than scary

Mama 

Score: 6/10

Decent horror movie, not one of my favourite Del Toro movies, nothing too scary really, Jamie Lanister stars

Django Unchained

Score: 9/10

Awesome,  probably my favourite Tarantino movie now. Loved the story, action and dialogue

Young Frankenstein

Score: 6/10

Was ok, think the humor is just before my time, the laughs were few and far between

Spaceballs

Score: 8/10

More recent Mel Brooks movie, much better, it helps that its spoofing a genre I like. Lots of memorable scenes

Seven

Score: 9/10

Fantastic Horror/suspense/crime movie. One of David Fincher’s best. Everyone is perfect in this movie, Pitt, Freeman, Spacey, Paltrow, all do great jobs. The Blu-ray looks and sounds awesome

Seven Psychopaths

Score: 9/10

Hilarious, saw it in theatre, bought it day 1 on Blu-ray. May not be for everyone, gets slow in some parts, but I loved it

Willow

Score: 9/10

A Classic, I love this movie.  The effects, story, music, actors (especially Kilmer) are great.  It feels like actual care and love went in to making the movie, although it does feel like they stole a lot of ideas from the Lord of the Rings books. Frodo / Willow, Madmartigan / Aragorn, etc

My scale

My rating scale

10. Awesome, quotable and infinitely re watchable

The Big Lebowski, Predator, Die hard, Fight Club, Jaws

9. Fantastic, great movies, just not perfect

Seven, Willow, Lord of the Rings, Avengers, Seven Psychopaths

8. Great, loved them, just not something I’d watch over and over

Spaceballs, The Grey, Forbidden Kingdom, Matirx, Looper

7. Pretty good, highly enjoyable, might consider buying it some time

Predators, Dredd, Underworld series

6. OK, I was entertained, nothing special though

Mama, Clash of the Titans, Immortals, Resident Evil

5. Meh, it wasn’t a waste of time, I didn’t want to turn it off, but not that good

Sucker Punch, Van Helsing

4 - 2. Waste of time, don’t bother, stay away

Battleship , Matrix 2 & 3,

1. Burn all copies, run them out of Hollywood

Catwoman, Baby Geniuses, Star wars prequels

Anything 6 or higher I consider a good movie, something I didn’t feel was a waste of time.

5 is average, I wouldn’t really recommend it to anyone, but I didn’t hate it either

Anything between 4 -2 are pretty much interchangeable. When it’s bad, its bad, I can’t really make a specific score for those movies, it’s just whatever I feel like giving it at that time. 1’s though, those are bad, those should never have been made.

The Hobbit - mini review

Quick movie thoughts

Movie: The Hobbit

Format: Blu-Ray

Rating: 5 / 10

I read the book The Hobbit years ago, back in Elementary school I believe, I started reading it again once the movie was coming out in theatres.  I wondered how they could stretch a 300 page (estimating here) or so book to 3 – 3 Hr movies.  Answer, they can’t.  Page 6 in the book occurs at about 45 mins into the movie.  That amount of wasted time and needless bloat is just ridiculous. I can only assume it’s a cash grab for the studio, why sell 1 ticket to a movie when we can drag it out across 3 movies and get 3 times the money! 

The movie itself is fine, the excruciatingly slow pace is what destroys it.  This movie annoyed me more than anything, I didn’t hate it, I was just annoyed by it. Scenes like Radagast’s introduction, where it should have been, Hi I’m radagast, we’re in trouble, let’s roll! Ended up being  “Oh hi there Gandalf the grey my old friend of friends, I have a peculiar quandary for you, but I forget what it was, oh yes, I remember, nope nope, forgot again…wait….no, it’s on the tip of my tongue, no wait, that’s just a stick bug, hmm oh yes….wait, what time is it? Have I taken up 30 mins of screen time yet…..no, well let’s delay even further!”

There is some enjoyment in the movie, it does feel like more LOTR, which I love, but the extra BS in the movie is just so overwhelming, it’s unforgivable. The movie is much nicer on Blu-ray than in the Theatre, the 3d and 48 FPS I found to be very distracting. I recommend watching it at least once, but the run time and filler just destroys any rewatchability (is that a word?) for me.

King Kong - Mini review

Quick movie thoughts (not really reviews)

Movie: King Kong

Format: Blu-Ray

Rating: 7 / 10 (9 / 10 minus 2 pts for the unnecessary run time)

Again, Peter Jackson spoils what could have been a fantastic movie with an extended run time.

I loved everything about this version of King Kong except for the run time.  

The movie itself in my opinion was fantastic, most everyone knows the story of King Kong, and this one follows mostly the same plot…with some extended filler scenes in between.  The “Filler” happens to be some fantastic action and scenery. Everything looks gorgeous, I love the style of the movie, the way it was shot makes it feels like an old classic movie. It’s a newer movie with great SFX, but it just has a feel to it like it was shot back in the 50’s.  The set design is spot on, the New York scenes look like what I imagine the era would look like and the Jungle scenes are also lavish and colourful.  There are several action set pieces that are all expertly put together, the T-Rex fight especially, but the river and bug scenes are also thrilling.  The problem with the movie is that the Action scenes go on too long and slow down the story too much.  

The Extended edition Blu-ray I watched clocked in at 3 Hrs 20 Mins, which is about an hour and 20 mins too long. Like Jackson’s most recent movie, The Hobbit, it just drags on and on. The Hobbit could have been another great entry in the Lord of the Rings series, but everything moves a long so slowly…..it takes for ever to advance the plot.  Jackson is a great director, he just really needs to learn to trim the fat, not everyone has 3 ½ hrs to spend in a theatre, watching at home on Blu-ray isn’t as bad, since you can stop and continue whenever you want, but being stuck in a theatre for that long is just not fun.