How Good is Drive?? Its That Good...

I rarely talk about movies these days on my blog, but watching Drive last weekend is the exception. There are brilliantly made movies and then there are just entertaining movies. Drive is simply one of the best complete movies I seen in a while from the execution of how the scenes were made and a style of filmmaking that does not have to resort to fanciness, special effects in other words, to make things work. It is also a rare beauty to see how limited dialogue can be so effective in a movie like this, specifically with the protagonist played by Ryan Gosling (a driver of few words, but knows how to get his job done), and various shots throughout the movie selling the main points beautifully well. Even if it is just a shot of Gosling driving around with a toothpick on his mouth, you get a sense of his emotions before crazy stuff goes down. Drive can not for everyone as the movie starts slow establishing the characters for certain audiences that wants insanity to happen every minute, but its not like that. When the action does begin to take place though, that is when the movie hits hard in a good way. The violence looks and feels brutal when done, yet there is a sense of art when it comes to these scenes because most of the time scenes like these in today's movies feel overblown. Drive makes violence feel real and gritty and the same goes for the car chases as well, which surprisingly there is not a lot of. The car chases didn't resort to movie logic to make them look cool, especially the beginning scene (you can see a part of it above) where sometimes making a scene in a city like Los Angeles is not the solution for escaping the cops. Then there's the amazing soundtrack, which also makes the movie feel special with its 80s vibe.

Last year, I had a similar reaction to another brilliantly made movie with The Social Network, another movie I didn't expect it would be good because of the whole "its a movie about Facebook" feeling, but word of mouf from reviews and the staff/cast involved made the movie the hit it was. Drive is different because its a thriller as it was also a movie I didn't expect much other than being just another action movie with cars thrown to the mix. It is more than that as it is a complete movie from beginning to end filled with amazingly made scenes that make it feel like art at times (especially with simple shots of the driver and fly overs of Los Angeles). The great 80s-like soundtrack is also another memorable selling point as well such as the song above that plays in the intro. The simple plot and pacing issues may irk some people, but Drive is my favorite film of the year so far and worth my highest recommendation watching it at the theaters.

Another Week... Another Battlefield 3 Trailer

Last week was a teaser for Operation Guillotine in Battlefield 3 as today is the extended version for that. There is some new footage in this nighttime level, but not much with another ambush like previous trailers ending the clip. I'm still wandering if the beta is even coming out at all at this rate.

DmC at TGS - Just Deal with the new Dante already

DmC, Ninja Theory's Devil May Cry reboot, is also at the Tokyo Game Show and this rate people just have to deal with the fact that the new Dante exists rather than continue to complain. The game continues to look fine as Dante now has some grappling mechanic for platforming segments and there will be boss battles against huge creatures. It is still coming out next year and we'll see if this can shut the critics up.

Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 TGS Blowout...

Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is at the Tokyo Game Show as not only the console versions are being shown off, but also the Playstation Vita version, which is confirmed to be released at the system's Japanese launch on December 17. The Vita version will be identical to the console versions in terms of graphics and gameplay, but the touch controls make it unique (perhaps activate X-Factor by touch for example). Multiplayer does allow cross-platform play between PS3 and Vita players from what I read, which is cool along with multiple Vitas as well. There's still a possibility of a Vita-exclusive character for this version, but if Cole from Infamous is in Street Fighter X Tekken, the same might be the case for UMvC3. One thing I'm hopeful for between PS3/Vita versions is the DLC working for both systems. In other words, I have to buy the alternate costumes or perhaps new characters once and it will work for both versions rather than double dip. Its no surprise UMvC3 is coming to the Vita, but let's move on to the latest character reveals.

Vergil from Devil May Cry 3 finally makes an appearance in a fighting game and I'm been excited about his inclusion since the initial announcement leak. Right from this reveal trailer, he definitely fits in the world of UMvC3 with his playstyle and moveset. Pretty much most of his moves from DMC3 are in this game along with his voice as well (still voiced by The Phantom Ranger himself Dan Southworth). From his Judgement Cuts (the multiple versions from the last DMC3 boss fight as a hyper move), Summoned Swords that basically puts Strider-Hiryu's orbs to shame at this rate, teleports, and his devil trigger, Capcom did a great job making Vergil a monster in this game. Plus, he's easier to play compared to Dante execution-wise, so you won't have a hard time nailing his crazy combos unlike Dante's bolt cancels. You'll see me rocking Vergil right away on my main team.

On the Marvel side, Iron Fist also makes his first appearance in a fighting game and already making a good impression right away. He looks to be someone that hits hard when given the opportunity, so get ready to eat big damage combos involving lots of moves that have either wall or ground bounce effects. Also retaining signature to his character, he has chi abilities that temporarily boost his stats for a bit (similar to Dormammu's power of the destructor/creator move). I can also see him being a beast among high tier teams in the future, so don't underestimate him for now.

I think the Rocket Raccoon & Phoenix Wright trailers will be up later this week, so stay tuned for those. In the meantime, the match videos featuring Iron First and Vergil are below. As of now, my main team can be best friends forever/Vergil (Wolverine/Vergil/Akuma), or Wolverine/Vergil/Sentinel. We'll see with that on November 15.

Another Fighting Game Franchise Returns in 2012

Dead or Alive 5 is finally happening since its been six years since the last game. I enjoyed DOA4 for what it was at the time and its definitely a different paced fighting game compared to the rest of the field. This is however the first DOA under the new Team Ninja, so who knows if they can maintain the same quality Itagaki had with the franchise (fans are not happy with how Ninja Gaiden III is shaping up so far). As long as this game sticks to their strengths, mainly their signature counter system and dynamic stages (which are no slouch in this early footage), it will be fine at the end of the day. Hopefully this will get be a tournament scene going again, but I'm doubting that for now. Ryu Hayabusa and Hayate are the confirmed characters so far and yes, this trailer does lack the other main thing(s) the series has been known for, but we'll see it soon enough since it is coming late next year. I'm ready to give the DOA franchise another chance, and maybe others too.

Speaking of Ninja Gaiden III, the TGS trailer for that is below. As a fan of the modern games, I'm still hopeful it will be turn out good, but you never know.

Max Payne 3 Rises from the Dead

We haven't heard much about Max Payne 3 in months, but the game finally rises back from the dead as Rockstar Games released the first official trailer for this long awaited sequel. Max has definitely been through a lot as this entry seems to take place years after the second game. He still does shave his head bald as shown in teasers long ago and bullet time is still intact. Max Payne 3 will be released on March 2012 and I hope it continues Rockstar's roll with the current generation of consoles (Red Dead, LA Noire being huge successes for them).

Street Fighter X Tekken Gets All Purple...

 The TGS reveals for Street Fighter X Tekken keeps on rolling as a new trailer shows off new significant details. There hasn't much information about the storyline other than Street Fighter and Tekken characters beating each other up, but now a twist that is full of purple gets thrown in with the addition of Pandora. As if the game didn't need any sort of comeback mechanic, Pandora mode fills in that void like X-Factor in the MvC3 games. This time your character turns purple and gets a strength boost for a limited time, but it costs all your partner's health in a match. My question is that it should have its own meter like how ultras how used in the Street Fighter IV games, but can be it used once per round or once per match (hopefully the latter). Basically its a slight variant of X-Factor with a color change and different purposes. The instant reaction is oh great, X-Factor now in this game?!?!? However, we'll see whether or not its a big game changer like X-Factor has been in MvC3 when the final game is out.

The trailer also shows off Rolento, Zangief, Lili, and Heihachi in action. Heihachi is not in his Tekken Tag 2 form as he is still rocking the gray hair. Rolento finally makes an appearance in the modern era of fighting games (last seen in Capcom vs. SNK 2), so that's nice to see him back in action on a Street Fighter game. Lili and Zangief are what you expect out of them from their respective games. Scramble mode gets introduced as well allowing the true 2v2 battle to unfold with all four characters on the screen (this is also playable online with four different characters played by four different players).  This is probably not going to be used in tournaments, but I guess its fun to mess around with it seeing what crazy possibilities players come up with. Also finally appearing for the first time is online training mode, which you can enable fight requests like in the SF4 games while messing around in training mode. This is arguably a long time coming for something like that to happen in the genre for a while as hopefully more games implement that.

Street Fighter X Tekken continues to surprise casual and tournament level players with the numerous additions they added in recent months. Hopefully Pandora mode is a worthy comeback mechanic, but as history says, people will find a way to exploit and make others complain how broken it is. Additionally, maybe some pros can get hands-on with it at the show floor and know what the deal is from their view. There's still plenty of character reveals left (half of the roster is there) and some notable Tekken guys that should be in, but not confirmed yet as the game is still on track for a February/March 2012 release.

UPDATE - According to Capcom-Unity, activating Pandora mode does mean a strength boost, but if the time limit ends, you're dead too. Looks like Seth Killian is right about being more of a gamble than a comeback mechanic.

More gameplay footage of the new characters below...