Rogue One vs The Force Awakens - How we do Judge?

Recently, I had a discussion with a good friend of mine in which I made the bold statement that 'Rogue One was a better movie than The Force Awakens.' While I'm not sure I would stand behind that statement today after a bit of thought, it still sparked a rather engaging conversation in which I realized something I hadn't considered before.

Franchise's are on the eve of a New Era. We no longer can simply grade a franchise film by its own merit- not to grade it fairly. With so much mixed media content, from novels, TV series, films and beyond; how can we judge a film as an independent piece when it was never intended to be viewed as such?

To be fair, I do believe criticism of a film, novel, comic or whatever medium you choose is fair, but so too is looking at the greater puzzle this piece may fit into. This idea was only compounded as over the weekend I binge watched Star Wars Episodes IV-VI. From that I picked up on something else, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back is pure eye candy.

What's a Sequel/Prequel in a Shared Universe?

I love Empire it's certainly one of my favorites. But if I look at this film as an independent film, far away from the surrounding franchise films- the film looses value quickly. We're left with an open-ended ending and the film itself seems to hang on the reveal that Vader is Luke's father. But this doesn't bring a ton of value to the film itself. It's a great reveal, but there's no conclusion to this news. Luke is simply defeated and narrowly escapes. In fact other than some eye candy in regards to a new Super Star Destroyer, TIE Bombers, interesting new locations, an improved lightsaber fight and Imperial Walkers, we're left with a pretty simple story about Luke visiting a hermit before confronting a bad dude and loosing.

Only when we view Empire as part of a trilogy, or saga can we begin to see the big picture and how fantastic it was to marvel and play in this 'play pen' of new material. The plot was pushed along just a little, but we were given new toys to 'awe' over and play with in our minds. Many of the best lines from the series are from Empire because the characters had plenty of time to simply exist without pressure of starting or ending the story. And there's nothing wrong with that. Empire is so great because it's a piece of candy stuck between two films that begin and end our journey. This is not so much a criticism as much as it is an observation (and before anyone starts to talk about storytelling principles, I'm way ahead of you, but it's important to remind ourselves of what Empire is)- and it leads me to an issue I have with criticism of Rogue One or The Force Awakens.

Star Wars has a selection of 'saga' films that have convenient numbers that string them all together. In the past this has worked for Star Wars- it was the way it was intended on being told. But I doubt Lucas or much less anyone else back then had dreamed up the concept of a shared cinematic universe. Certainly no one could imagine the Marvel Universe being told from the perspective of 'Episode 1: Captain America...' Because Marvel and DC have changed the way we view these expanded universes. When we get a film like Ant Man, the superhero isn't a main hero like Captain America. So where does that fit into the greater story arch? If we looked to the Monomyth for clues on story structure, would Ant Man be near the beginning or middle of this grand story? The answer is none of the above. While Ant Man itself may follow the story structure of the Monomyth, the film itself only nudges the film universe forward and from that respect- is just candy for the Marvel Universe.

More to the point, Rogue One was 'candy' for the Star Wars Universe. It's story nudged the saga forward, but the film itself was a new cinematic path being forged. Our expectations for quality should be just as high as The Force Awakens, if not higher.  But what we expect in terms of content should be wildly different.

Criticizing Rogue One

Namely, a lot of the issues I've heard with Rogue One is that it was too much 'fandom' Too much of what fan's have been drooling over- Action! X-Wings! Stormtroopers! Battle! New Tech! To be fair, we should have expected this from the moment they said it would be a war film, but beyond that I find those who criticize the film for the new vehicles/weapons to be just as silly as those who criticize the film for having the classic Imperial Walkers 'just because it'll get people into theater seats.' Because frankly Star Wars is about the characters as much as it is about the universe they inhabit. It's a bad reason to dislike the film when a more reasonable reason could be the lack of character development. Which I would take as a reasonable excuse, especially considering some of the key characters don't survive and understanding their motivations more clearly in this one-off film becomes even  more important.

But to complain that the film was ruined because they added new vehicles in the same way Empire Strikes Back did, is just silly. To complain that cutting edge special effects didn't 100% convince you that Tarkin was living and breathing, probably just shows you're not a fool. But to suggest it ruined the film is a bit dramatic. The special effects are pretty amazing all things considered and perhaps one day Disney will update them as the technology improves. I guess my point with this one is simple- when Star Wars came out in the 70s, the technology that was presented to movie goers was new and revolutionary. But don't kid yourself into thinking that anyone thought it was real. It was just really amazing to see what they achieved on screen. Why audiences today can scoff and suggest they simply shouldn't have bothered, defeats the point. It's not about being photo accurate, it's about telling a story with all the tools you have at your disposal.

Future Films

Real complaints about Rogue One exist and I hope Disney listens to them and uses that as motivation to create something truly spectacular in the future. Personally I don't think they nailed The Force Awakens for different reasons than Rogue One, but TFA's story isn't complete and we're bound to have our opinions change once Episode VIII arrives. Though considering Episode VIII's position as the 'candy' episode in this new trilogy, we shouldn't be surprised if many of the same complaints start to show up after the credits roll. I could only hope much like Empire, the characters become richer, the universe deeper and the new tech cooler. 

Kerbal Space Program V1 REVIEW!

I can't even begin to tell you how excited I have been to play the official Version 1.0 of KSP. Having sank over 800 hours into Kerbal since I started in .18 it's been one hell of a journey to where KSP stands today. So was the anticipation worth it? Was the hype train worth the wait? In a couple words: Hell Yeah.

Right off the bat there's some really fantastic big changes to KSP. First and foremost an proper atmospheric drag model has been implemented into the game. You'll notice it as soon as you launch your first rocket. But to really feel the effects, you only need to wander into your space plane hanger and construct a winged vessel. There are a number of things about the atmosphere that create a more compelling experience. For one, parachutes finally seem to work in a realistic way. While I was cruising around at 300m/s in an early space plane (that admittedly was more plane than space.) I found myself taking off using nothing but the forces of air pressure under my wings and slowing due to drag after launching parachutes will gliding to a stop. It's subtle, but the changes make for a brand new set of experiences to play with. Space planes in general have been boosted with various new parts including landing gear, winglets and air intakes.

But the new areo model is really only half the recipe. The new implementation of heat has been a serious game changer. Previously your craft would harmlessly catch on fire as it re-entered the atmosphere or broke supersonic speeds. But no more. Now heat- or friction has turned beautiful spires of fire into horrifying moments of nail biting experiences. As I discovered dozens of times (and I mean dozens) friction really turns on you in multiple ways. It's not simply a matter of entering the atmosphere as perhaps the classic 'movie-esque' belief goes. Friction is a relation to how your craft moves within a dense atmosphere- it's like swimming. This all relates back to the parts your craft are built from. Sometimes you can get away with making your ship more aerodynamic, so it slips through the atmosphere like a knife or other times you can use a heat shield. Each situation has its pro's and con's and even then things don't always go as planned. For instance, I've used a heat shield on a top heavy vessel, but without SAS it spun and flipped me upside down- rendering the shield useless and ultimately turned my ship into a fireball.

But it's not all big changes that make a difference. The 'advance to next day' button outside your space center is a welcomed addition, making it far easier to launch during the day. Other elements like additional parts, engines and connectors have helped bridge the gaps the previous versions fell short on.

The biggest and perhaps most profound element to KSP is mining. However, I haven't advanced far enough in the game to properly review it yet. I will gladly offer a second Review as I've advanced further in the game. However, after the first few hours in KSP, I'm a solid believer.

8/10 - Can't wait to see what they do next.

[Early] Democracy 3 Review

It should be noted that I'm pretty piss poor at this game at the moment. There's a lot of moving parts and that leaves me questioning how to aptly play this game in order to get ahead. There's one big thing I've already noticed: making big changes means big public outcry. Even if what you're doing is for the best, the public either doesn't see the big picture or just isn't looking for true change. In many ways this mimics real life politics and almost makes me feel bad for the politicians. Almost. I've only played D3 for a couple hours last night and bought it on a whim for it's low price point and because it's sat on my Steam Wishlist for a long time collecting dust. It's a pretty straightforward game with a lot of complicated information, you defiantly have to think here and plan before you execute an order.

The biggest problem I've faced with D3 is how overwhelming it feels. Your nation starts with so many problems, it can feel like a bit much just getting started. The easiest thing I've found is to simply focus on one problem and see what small changes you can make to improve it, without a lot of major changes.

However, that hasn't stopped different groups from assassinating me for various reasons. I've had Conservative Patriots to Liberal Immigrants shoot me. But hey- can't make everyone happy. Having recently been watching House of Cards, one of the first things I toyed with was Frank's plan to empty welfare and deposit all the extra funds into state employee positions. Unfortunately, that too backfired as many of the state positions required a firm education or simply took time to see growth in that area.

One of the more annoying features of the game- which might actually have a good reason for being this way (although I haven't found it clearly) is the bubbles on the main screen. While the bubbles themselves are fine, however hectic they may be. The problem is they change position nearly every turn, which makes returning to that bubble confusing. Especially for new players who aren't aware of which bubble represents which function. The other issue is providing me with the right information- when I need it. When I decide to drop spending on something- lets say Military Funding, I really wish it provided me with automatic calculations on how much I'm saving, how my debt per turn will change and other graphical hard data. In a way, it almost seems like public opinion matters more than the actual hard numbers. Which might be the point all long. As long as the nation is happy it doesn't matter that Blacks are being put behind bars, the Religious Right is teaching Creationism and we're Nuking Korea.

The game is pretty intriguing and I'm happy I picked it up- it just seems to have a steep learning curve even with various tutorials. More updates soon- hopefully I get the swing of things shortly.

Plague Inc: Evolved Review

Plague Inc. has been one of those games that have been on my Steam Wishlist for a while now. There's really no reason I haven't bought it until now, other than to say I'm just a tad cheap. But with my paycheck and Tax Return clearing I figured I could drop the $14.99 that it was asking. To put it simply, I'm not disappointed in my investment. I do however, feel that they could and should do more to expand the game. It's important to note that this is a Early Access game and I understand that many game elements may change or be enhanced in the future. But as of now 3/2/15, this is my review.

The Good:

Plague Inc. is a seemingly daunting task at first and doesn't provide you with a lot of info to get yourself started. But things really aren't as hard as they first seem. Your first objective is typically to infect as many people as you possibly can. But there's plenty of room to experiment here, which can be fun and challenging in its own right. The interface is pretty easy to figure out and you'll be on your way to global destruction in no time.

The game is fairly fun, it's simple- but it's fun. You spend the majority of your time clicking popups which provide you with additional 'Bonus DNA' to modify your Plague with. The biggest challenge it seems is to create a contagious plague that isn't very lethal- at least not at first. Once you've spread to all corners of the Earth it's time to ramp up the lethality and start raining chaos upon the planet. This isn't always easy, and different plague's require different tactics in the short term.

It's tough to find other things I like about this game. It's very simple at its core- which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

The Bad:

The problem Plague Inc. faces, is how repetitive the game becomes. The major gameplay feature you'll notice is how much clicking your doing to recover additional 'Bonus DNA', while this feature isn't bad in itself. It calls back to the game's predecessor as a Mobile Game App. In the future, I'd like to see some creative variety in obtaining additional DNA. The other issue with gameplay is a pretty key factor to the game, in playing the game close to 8 Hours last night I found myself falling back to the same strategy over and over again. Infect with a low risk plague- then ramp of the lethality at the last minute to cause a massive kill off. Once you've got the swing of this tactic- the game starts to fade and the AI becoming glaringly obvious. This could be solved however, with different objectives or extended gameplay. Perhaps in the future we'll see scenarios where you've been contracted to kill off one countries population, while protecting another- or other such complicated scenarios which would produce much more intuitive strategy.

The next issue I ran into was the additional content the game provides the player. While it appears at first beneficial to know more about the country you're infecting- in reality the majority of this information is repetitive or can simply be thrown out as useless. Worse yet, many of the buttons you are able to click don't provide any tool tips, which makes early gamers feel rather lost- I know I did. In addition, the game also allows the player to zoom in and while this may be for a future feature that involves a much more in depth look. At the moment this serves no purpose and if anything- hinders the player from spotting the Bonus DNA popups.

Summary:

In the end, despite these flaws I'm assuming there's a plan moving forward to solve these problems. According to the Plague Inc. Wiki, the developer has gone over nearly half a million gamer responses to his game, in order to improve gameplay overtime. So I'll be looking forward to see where he takes this game in the future. Final score,

6.5

DLC /Rant

I love the Total War franchise. But I can't even begin to tell you how much I hate the DLC for it. It's not the DLC itself, while I'm sure the majority of it is solid content. But it really annoys the piss out of me when I'm paying an additional $2 for a 'Blood & Gore' pack, when in reality this should have been included in the game. This isn't even a new feature by any extent- as Shogun 2 provided it as DLC (and possibly Empire?). I'm not even against DLC in terms of extending the gameplay- such as Gameplay Campaigns. But when it's frivolous money hording that's another story.

Take The Sims 4 for instance. Here's a game franchise in which has been gutted and strung up for the player to purchase as a full game. But to many gamer's surprise, what they got was nothing short of 'core gameplay' without any of the bells and whistles the franchise had become known for. Admittedly I haven't played it due to the reviews. But in investigating Sims 4, I was shocked to discover the developers left out such things as dishwashers, the toddler stage of growth, or even swimming pools- and their excused for why they choose to simply aren't that great. I fear we are moving into a poorly motivated system where gamers are being exploited for their pockets and love of the entertainment. The problem that I foresee is this becoming far worse before it gets any better. With any luck, the community as a whole will respond in force.

/Rant

From Galactic Space to Roman Empire

I've had a busy past few days and my weekend was plesently consumed with my girlfriend and the one day Florida provided us with upper 70s weather. It was a tantalizing cruel taste of the summer we all long for. That goes double for me- who rides a motorcycle 99% of the year.

But my bud gave me a call yesterday and we talked a bit about the new Total War game, Attila that recently launched. Now, I'm usually not the type of gamer that will buy a recently released game- because I'm cheap, but in the case of PC games, due to the all to often buggy problems that are attached I usually wait even longer. In the case of Total War, who's previous title Rome II was a hot mess for months before they supplied enough patches to almost build a new game: that hasn't inspired me to run out and buy Attila. In fact, I'm not even sure I'm going to buy it at this point.

Perhaps I've had my head in the sand, but I didn't even know about Attila until it launched. Which is strange because I'm a pretty big fan of the Total War franchise. So perhaps they didn't PR the shit out of this title, or maybe I really did just miss everything. Either way, from what my bud has explained to me: it seems like a giant apology for Rome II. The era is roughly the same as Rome II and much of the features missing from Rome II have been added in Attila. Best yet, the game seems to be launching rather smoothly from what I hear. So perhaps I'll purchase it eventually, but either way I booted up Rome II recently to give it another go.

My biggest complaint (as I bought the game long after the patches were applied) was how long Rome II was. In my previous campaign, I played as Greece who at the time was occupying Egypt- after dozens of hours of campaigning I had taken most of North Africa and parts of the Middle East. A decent feat in Rome II, but Europe was still immense and terrifying frankly. This go around I did things a little differently and decided to begin as a humble British tribe and as of last night conquered all opposing British tribes- uniting the British Isles under my rule. Problem is where to go from here! Europe is a big place and landing on the shoreline means a massive invasion force in order to take a city and begin my conquest. 200 BC is a long ways off from the 1940s.

So lets switch things up a bit and run back to Star Wars: The Old Republic. I've run into a problem and it's called Alderaan. The 'perfect' utopia of a planet that's split in Civil War. The problem lies in a conflict of interests, where various ruling families are fighting over control of the planets Monarchy. Because nothing says peace, love and equality like a monarchy. Really, what grinds my gears about Alderaan is how upper class most of the characters you encounter are. In my time I spent living in Fort Lauderdale, I recall a similar experience that aggravated the shit out of me. Which is part of why I'm a little sensitive to being bossed around like a simpleton to these rich bastards. Needless to say, I see the value in a Pro-Republic family taking control of the Monarchy, but at the same time I hate everyone I've had to work with on the planet. I doubt the devs planned on encoring the wrath of their players through character experiences, but I feel very strongly behind the decisions I make on this planet.

While nobody has outright said it, I also find it a little suspicious that there is no lower class- even the middle class looks pretty rich. I've seen a few farms or estates- but even they seem to  be doing pretty well for themselves and seem to be more a novelty than actual farming. For all we know they're growing grapes for wine. Which really makes me wonder about this planets economy. There hasn't been an empire on Earth that hasn't been built on the lower class. So when I see these towering buildings and grand gates, all I can think is 'cool, so where is the slave labor?' That being said however, it's curious to note this planet has native inhabitants, a very organic bug like creature that the Alderaan people regard as lesser beings and leave you to exterminate throughout your time there. A rather rash thing to do in my mind, considering the creatures: Killik are part of a hive mind and show enough intelligence to use blaster rifles and other crafted tools. Showing that they aren't just mindless beasts, but together a rather intelligent and powerful force. But the important distinction is this: Alderaan views the Killik as different and like any society that is different and unwilling to conform to society's rules, they are hunted down and exterminated.

Yet once again, as a Jedi I've been tasked to save the people from these creatures by going on various slaughter-fests. While I know what I'm doing is wrong, this is yet again another example of how I see my character falling to the dark side. The Killik have certainly been motivated to swarm and kill the people of Alderaan and honestly I could see this happening even without Imperial influences (which at the moment I'm not sure are even involved.). From what I've read about the Species the majority of their kind left the system some time ago and those who remain often lay dormant underground. Those who do awaken are a mixture of territorial and docile. So does that mean I should be exterminating these creatures? Going as far as to destroy their eggs and plant mines to catch them off guard? It should be no ones surprise that my character would choose to murder an opponent when the opportunity arrives then let them live, when so much of the characters experiences are shaped to enjoy bloodshed and encourages the death and murder of not just the enemy soldiers, but the young and defenseless as well. Worse yet, I feel it says something that the Jedi as a whole haven't stepped up to question the Killik's motives or to even recognize them as a society that deserves its equal respect in a Civil War between monarchies. All this being said however, it does remind me of why I enjoy this time period. The Jedi have a very particular set of rules in mind when it comes to right and wrong. The universe is a very black and white place, but people like me are showing up and asking 'why?' and bending the rules despite the ruling council. You can argue that Reven and I have a lot in common in this sense.

But who knows, maybe we're the outsiders because we see the Universe as a unified being, rather than simply warring factions. In my opinion, to be a true Jedi is to renounce all bloodshed, anger and conflict and pursue a life of knowledge and wisdom. You can pretend you're all that shit while you're lopping off heads and arms- but we both know you're lying. Nobody walks into battle with the emotion of serenity and peace unless you plan on walking out of that battle emotionally scarred with the eyes of the fallen forever burned into your mind. And after a thousand have fallen as with my character, what is death anymore- and are you its instrument?

Jurassic World Ate My Lunch

Let it be said- Jurassic World's trailer that was released today was bad ass. After months of waiting and worrying my favorite childhood franchise might be ruined (again, Jurassic Park III anyone?) It was really happy to see the production quality appeared pretty top notch and the story seemed fairly solid. There's been a bit of pissing and moaning about a few issues, but nothing that can't be explained away.

First, there's been a lot of annoyance over the 'low' quality of the CGI in the film. While I admit, the CGI doesn't appear as top notch as even say 'King Kong' where I was extremely impressed by the lighting and textures of the creatures depicted. Lets keep in mind the film won't be released until next June and the CGI itself doesn't look poor aside for a couple of shots. The main gate in particular looks a tad fake. With such a span of time between now and the release there's no doubt in my mind work on the film, post production in particular is still chugging away- and that means the CGI will make improvements.
Another issue that's been circling the message boards has been the credibility of a made up dinosaur. This is a real fine line, because on the surface a 'genetically built from scratch' dino sounds pretty lame. But lets take a moment to realize that A) None of the animals in Jurassic Park were 'real'. They had already been altered. A fact I'm sure will be made clear in the film. B) Cross genetics isn't really that lame unless this thing has wings, spits venom and can survive outer space. Lets remind ourselves to be rational. The trailer as a whole looks very well thought out, there's no reason to jump to conclusions. The brief glimpse we get at the dinosaur itself appears to be very... well. Dinosaur like. I get the impression it's going to be fairly familiar- perhaps it's real threat is its intelligence.
The last issue I've heard is the fact that Chris Pratt's character is working with 'trained dinosaurs'. A fact that Pratt himself acknowledged sounded silly- and again, this is one of those ideas that sounds lame until we stop to think about it. First, lets keep in mind that humans and seemingly dangerous animals such as lions or sharks have managed to be studied in extremely close proximity. There's no reason to believe that the Raptors are simply killing machines, a fact I'm sure Chris Pratt's character will attempt to drive home. The second thing to consider, is that Pratt's made a point to say that 'trained' doesn't mean tricks as much as it means the broad sense of the word. I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest the Raptors might be used as bloodhounds in a sense. Especially considering there's a dinosaur on the loose. On the flipside I could be wrong and maybe the Raptors are so smart they're using their relationship with Pratt for their own advantage. Sneaky bastards.

So there you have it. That's been my day. Oh and kissing Vanity without a beard f'n rules.