CAMPCOM’s Resident Evil series is the most prolific action-horror title in the video game business and is also the most successful in being ported from just about all console devices and PC.

Apart from the action-horror aspect of this game series the story continuity is also what makes this series successful. Every game is good enough to be played on a stand-alone basis but the back stories make them even better.

The stories of the main characters are integrated in each medium where they are present, which includes about seven games, two novels and a CGI film entitled Resident Evil Degeneration.

Of course, the three RE movies where Milla Jovovich starred are of a different universe and are not canon to the main RE story.

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By Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net

Traveller’s Tales must be quite happy with what they’ve been doing for the last few years. Its LEGO Star Wars adventure games have been hits among kiddie and older gamers and these successfully introduced younger people to the historic Star Wars franchise. It’s quite a tall order for a developer to create a new game, using the same game engine on a different franchise and make it successful.

Not surprisingly, it did. Traveller’s Tales (and publisher LucasArts) introduced the same gameplay to Indiana Jones starting with the original trilogy. It brings the same blocky in-game players, the same action gameplay, and the same of the old platforming and puzzle-solving adventures that the LEGO Star Wars fans enjoyed. The LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures is a sure-fire hit that even those not familiar with the Harrison Ford-starred films will have as much fun playing as finding out where the Indiana Jones history started.

As the title implies, LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures is based on the first three movies: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Temple of Doom, and Last Crusade. Nearly all of the most memorable scenes in the movies have been incorporated into the game but to avoid confusion, the developers made Barnett College as Indy’s “base of operations.” This is where he teaches. To start an adventure in one movie the player has to go through portals which are Indy’s office, a theater and an artifact room. Upon entering, each of the portals will first direct to a short cut scene describing that part of the movie scene. The base of operations concept in this game is similar to the LEGO Star Wars games where the players have to start in a Mos Eisley cantina, which has doors leading to certain stages in the game.
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By Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net

PANDAS are not always seen as funny. They’re just cute, something you’d like to take home as a pet. However, if the panda is Jack Black, then he’s not just funny but extremely hilarious and in the latest computer animation flick from DreamWorks, you’ll wish a panda could actually be your pet.
This writer has tried to keep spoilers to a minimum in this review, but stop reading if you don’t want anything spoiled for you.

The movie uses the tried and tested zero-to-hero formula, which is common in many children’s cartoons so as to teach kids to believe in themselves and conquer all obstacles. The movie’s solid storyline, written by Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, is predictable but again, this kind of script formula works just fine with younger viewers.

Likewise, there are many elements from Japanese anime and even Hong Kong martial arts movies in terms of story progression, dialogue and most especially the fight scenes. In fact, those familiar with the old Jackie Chan flicks and the new Stephen Chow movies will find some script and comic references. There are also some philosophical ramblings that seem to target children. Some martial arts buffs and anime purists might not like the nearly copycat plot because of the lack of originality. Incidentally, it has almost no reference to pop culture, which is often the staple of computer graphics animation films like the “Shrek” and “Toy Story” movies.

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By Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net

LET’S see if an Iron Man video game based on the movie-comic book tie-in would save the world from the bad movie-video game curse.

Nope, it won’t.

Our faith in even the most beloved comic book franchises cannot save the poor gamer from having to suffer from the effects of playing video games based on movies. At some point you would ask, “Why do all movie-video game tie-ins suck?” Iron Man the game is a big joke. Which begs the question: why do developers and publishers bother releasing a title that they know will suck? Simple: some of us get suckered into shelling out a few bucks to satisfy our curiosity and at some point, to falsely believe that there’s a future for video game-movie tie-ins until they’re dashed the moment we chuck the game disc into our players.

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By Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net

AFTER several nostalgic attempts to bring back old actors as the characters that made them superstars (think Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone), here comes Harrison Ford out to reclaim his title as the eponymous Indiana Jones with a new movie, still armed with his trademark bullwhip, revolver and indomitable fedora.

His latest adventure, “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” is largely George Lucas and Steven Spielberg’s remake of the same good old fashioned 80s-era action-adventure to satisfy the cravings of a nostalgic thirtysomething crowd and see if the same moviemaking formula of the early 80s would work with a new audience.

This review may contain some spoilers, so stop reading if you don’t want the movie spoiled for you.

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