Archives for the Month of March 2008 on media addict
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune can best be described as a mash-up of Gears of War and Prince of Persia. It combines the 3rd person cover and weapons system from Gears with the environmental puzzle platforming of PoP. Add in the fantastic visuals, music and story, and Uncharted is a lot of fun to play.
In some ways Uncharted is almost too similar to Gears. The weapons system especially is almost a verbatim copy; allowing you to carry only two firearms plus grenades (which use the exact same throwing mechanic as Gears). It also requires you to constantly switch weapons to whatever ammo type is available in the area. My main criticism of Uncharted is that it is a little unbalanced. I would have preferred more platforming and puzzle solving to gunplay. Still, while it isn't incredibly innovative, Uncharted is definitely worth playing.
The Bank Job
The Bank Job is easily the best heist movie I've seen in years. It makes the most of a great cast and retro feel to create a fantastic throwback thriller. Too many new movies focus solely on the slickness of the heist. The Bank Job is more about what is being stolen and the consequences of stealing it. As a result this movie is very dense and throws a lot of characters on the screen in the first 30 minutes. While other movies can leave the viewer hanging, The Bank Job does a great job of tying up story points and helping you understand the fairly complicated plot.
It was also good to see Jason Statham in a good movie for a change. I also liked David Suchet as a strip club owner and pornographer; a major departure from his best known role as Hercule Poirot on the BBC. 4/5