Film What I Saw #1: X-Men Origins: First Class

One of the things I'd been planning on doing with this blog was reviewing (Well, more talking about) films I'd just seen. As it happens, yesterday I happened to watch X-Men origins: First Class, the latest in the line of mutant-based Marvel comic book adaptations. I actually wanted to see The Beaver, a film staring Mel Gibson about a man's slow ascent out of depression through the medium of a puppet beaver, but annoyingly my local multiplex didn't happen to be showing it.

Anyway, I normally loathe action films, but often have to sit through them, because the likes of The Beaver are never showing. However, I thought this one was quite good cause it had a message 'n stuff and it did more than just blow stuff up like. I liked it. But it wasn't overly immersive. I didn't feel pulled into the world or particarly in awe of anything in the film, so for that reason it isn't getting either an image or a long/proper review. It will, however, get a score, because I'm gonna score films.

6 Strippers With Wings out of 10.

The icing on my PS3-cake is certainly not a lie.

I was hoping to bring you some sort of interesting observations about my first few days with a PS3, and how it differs from being a purely Nintendo person or exactly what difference HD makes. There's just one problem: None of that seems to exist. It's not as 'dirty' a feeling as it should have been, as it felt before the postman handed it over to me. I haven't really noticed the prettier graphics, to be honest, which is odd, considering how much abuse the Wii seems to get from the likes of the dreaded Cliffy B and even Valve, the company that's probably made my opening PlayStation weekend.

Yes, with my PS3 I purchased, for fairly small prices, The Orange Box and Batman: Arkham Asylum. Whilst it's the later that's currently keeping me amused, following the lengthy set-up, I decided that I'd start the game that really lead to me buyig this console: Portal. Maybe it was the sequel that made me go the lengths, but I began it anyway and I didn't stop it until 10PM.

5 hours of Portal began to blow my tiny mind. Thankfully due to the amount of pieces it was now left in, my brain found it easy to rest, but after a few hours sleep I was back up and ready for Portal. I finished it within another hour or two, but loved every single second of it. It set a really rather high benchmark for every game I'm going to play on the system from now on.

The thing about Portal is that it's a smart game. It's feels as if the developers thought about it the whole way through, with every single square inch delicately planned out- Which I'm sure they did. The last time I saw this kind of attention to detail was in the Super Mario Galaxy games, and it's no coincidence that they happen to other two best games I've played from the past five years.

Portal is based around a smart concept, but it doesn't leave it there, as many games do, (Eledees, I'm looking at you.) but continues to be smart through every level. New ideas are introduced constantly, but when they eventually begin to dry up, the old ones are reintroduced with such vibranse and finesse that they feel like new ideas all over again. Yet the portal creation at the heart of it remains an ingenius idea through the entire game and as more and more bits are introduced, it never threatens to become conveluted in the slightest.

A games' quality can usually be judged by the amount of love a developer has for it. This is why the likes of Nintendo are great developers, because they care what the player thinks, and want to give the best possible expeirence to them. Valve's emotions towards The Orange Box are clear throughout, with GLaDOS being the main indicator. her dialogue is constantly chirpy and funny, but still somehow nonethemoreblack. You can tell the writers and actors alike are having a good time with her character. She truely is one of the great video game heroes/villians, depending on where you want to stand on her.

I think it's an understatement to say that I love Portal. I finished the game in around 7 hours (one of which was simply trying to get my head around the double fling) but they were a brilliant 7 hours. A clever 7 hours. A well-designed 7 hours. A good-looking 7 hours. A 7 hours that have set me up to be extremely disapointed by the so-called 'Next Gen' expeirence. Ah well, Portal's worth a lifetime of disapointment, don't you think?

Games of the Winter

I'm sat here waiting for the delivery of my brand spanking new PlayStation 3 and decided, since the Royal Mail are so lazy and can't get round us quickly enough to let me enjoy some black box-based goodness , I'll update this blog thing again. Because I'm just such a boring person and can't find anything else to do with my life besides wait for video game systems on which to play games I'll simply dismiss as being 'Meh' before moving on. (Before I finished this blog, the system actually arrived. So I've been playing on it for the past day. This opening no longer applies. But yeah. The rest does.)

So here's my official time filler: My top picks for the Top 5 games due this winter. The games what I do want. It may be biased, but then it's my list, so it's got to be, otherwise it kinda defeats the objective of the whole list. Erm, yeah, let's begin.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Wii)
Nintendo/Nintendo 
Those of you who have read any of the collections of words I've put together in the past will have no doubt identified already that I quite like games involving boys wearing outlandish green outfits and sock-like hats going on epic quests. So it'll come as no suprise to you guys that I'm looking forward to the latest game in a franchise that consistantly seems to fit that bill.


Joking aside, Skyward Sword looks set to fill the Zelda-shaped hole that has been in my system since I finished Phantom Hourglass. (Spirit Tracks doesn't count. It felt like a quite good adventure game rather than a proper Zelda title.) The art style is spot-on if you ask me and the more open gameplay seems right up my street. (Link can now fly on a bird! Through the sky! Wherever he wants! All my past praise of Epona no longer applies.)
How my review shall probably close: "A spellbinding piece of digitalised entertainment on a huge scale and arguably the grandest Zelda to date. 96%"

Sonic Generations (PS3, Xbox 360, 3DS)
SEGA/Sonic Team
Another series I happen to be a fan of is Sonic the Hedgehog, which celebrated its' 20th Anniversary yesterday. (Happy Birthday!) However, even as a hardened fan, I have to admit that it can be somewhat... Up and down. The part of me that loves the Blue Blur is doing so off the back of pretty much Sonic 2 alone. Yes, the first 4 2D platformers were good, but once and once only has Sonic hit the true gaming heights so reguarly acheived by his bitter rival, Super Mario. ( See the next post, funnily enough.) However, I honestly believe that he may do it once more in Generations, the first time I've been truely excited about a Sonic game since... Well, pretty much ever. The old/new concept strikes me as a brilliant idea and provided they can get 2D Sonic to feel right, they're onto a winner. Sprinting through Green Hill Zone in 3D is going to BLOW MY MIND.
How my review shall probably close: "Another poentally great game butchered brutally by Sonic Team. It's 18 years since Sonic 2 took the hedgehog to near-gaming perfection, they've now missed their greatest chance to get it again. But I still liked it because I'm a soft, bias Sonic fan. 64%"

Super Mario 3D (3DS)
Nintendo/Nintendo
Not the final title, thankfully, although the purity suggested in the title does bleed through into the final game. This is 2D Mario as a 3D game. That's somewhat of a shame, as the 3D Marios are amongst the best games ever. (Besides Sunshine, which was merely a very good game and gets a lot of unfair stick. I'll go into more detail over my irrationbal love of the GameCube instalment at a later date.)  However, Super Mario World is Sonic 2's real rival to the title of 'Best 2D Platformer Ever' so you can't complain about the source material they're roughly adapting from. The levels are considerably shorter than in other 3D Mario games, fitting the handheld pick-up-and-play idea perfectly. I'm going to be all over it come Christmas time.
How my review shall probably end: "Miyamoto's done it again. An imperial ton of levels delivered in a perfectly diluted form. At last, there's a true reason to own a 3DS. 94%"

Mario Kart 3DS (Take a guess)
Nintendo/Nintendo + Retro Studios
It's the Retro Studios name that gives me any element of doubt over this game. I've loved all their work to date. Setiously, every single game they've ever made has been Mareep Award quality. So why am I so doubtful over their invovlment? After all, they're only handling the tracks. I'm doubtful simply because they are a western developer, influtrating a brilliantly Japanese racing game. While I don't doubt either of the devlopers abilities, the only real question is: Will it blend? I really hope so, but I can't say for sure. I just wanted Mario Kart Wii on a handheld, but I'm in the minority there. I'm sure they'll pull through, and I really hope they do and that gliding and diving are great, but just let me have my reservations about it all. If I didn't think it was going to be brilliant it wouldn't be on this list. I'm really not sure what kind of point I'm trying to make here.
How my review shall probably end: "Nintendo and Retro have proved the doubters wrong with the second-best Mario Kart to date, although I wish Bikes were still in it. 90%"

 Batman: Arkham City (PS3, Xbox 360)
Warner Bros/Rocksteady
I'm actually playing through the original at the moment, so it'll be nice to almost imediatly get a second slice of Bat-action. While I've long been more of a fan of camp, fluffy Batman, I've recently been converted after catching up on The Dark Knight only 8 million years late and as such the really quite enjoying KN's Game of the Year 2009. It is, though, obviously not on a grand enough scale, obviously. Taking down every single villian that Batman's ever had to face (More of less) must take place IN A BIGGER CITY. So Rocksteady have given us that. More places to look at! Yay! This game is obviously now perfect. It also now included Catwoman, who was too busy drinking milk out of a bowl to make the last instalment. I just hope throwing Batrangs will be less awkward.
How my review shall probably end: "Kapow! Biff! '60s Batman has finally been banished to it's grave with a x15 combo and a trophie unlocked. 91%"

KN is 5!

It's amazing to think that five whole years ago I sat down to create Knight-Nui. Why I chose that name, I'll never know, but it's certainly stuck and acts as something of a secret weapon. People don't forget Knight-Nui in a hurry, but Game Pigeon or TARDIS Eggbox or whatever? How do we tell it apart from the other generic 'Game + (Word)' sites? We don't, that's how. Knight-Nui? That's unique.

KN's present from me is more of a promise: I'm going to complete our fortpholeo of reviews. Yes, over the summer we're going to see over 50 new reviews of old games, and probably some new ones as well. I don't know why I'm announcing this here, but there we are. I'm off to post it on the forums now. That's a better place to say that.

Nobody actually knows about this blog, but all the same, I'm going to just make it clear that, despite the recent rough times, that I love KN and I've poured so much time and effort into it. Often it doesn't show, but I'll spend several hours adjusting the gap between the 'Add Reply' and 'New Topic' buttons. (Which still isn't right, and still bugs me.) I'll spend even longer slaving over reviews of big games that I know will be panned because I didn't critise an element which I happened to like. But more than anything else, I've been posting on those forums. I quite like doing that. So much, at the time of writing I've done it 20,987 times. And I've somehow still got things to write about. It's brilliant. It's quite broad, there's things to discuss and I like that. My only wish is that more people would share it with me. Please...

Anyway, happy birthday KN! Here's to the next 5 years...

Wales and the 'Scrum Half Crisis' (May contain traces of Tavis Knoyle)

My first proper post on this blog thing and I've decided it'll be about Rugby. More specificaly: Welsh Rugby. Depending on how I feel, I may end up doing one of these for everything surrounding this years' World Cup, or I might just do this one on Wales. Anyway, I've still not got the hang of this blogging lark again, so appologies if this is all a bit ranty and/or uncohesive.

OK, as some of you may have noticed, a certain Mr. William Micheal Phillips was arrested the other night outside McDonalds in Cardiff, heavily drunk and looking for a fight. This is the same Phillips that has been destroying Wales' chances of pushing on to anything near their potential for the past two years, ever since he lost form following his poutstanding Lions tour. He's been but a shadow of the player since then, lacking his trademark physicality as well as the speed he has often been critised of, even before that.

Wales must have 6 or 7 decent Scrum-Halves, each with their own pros and cons. While the choice of Phillips seemed obvious in Gatlands' eye, now his favourite No. 9 has gone missing, who is he going to pick? While I know who I'd go for, let's look through Gatland's eyes for a minute and try and add up the pros and cons of each half back...

Dwyane Peel

Caps: 79
Points: 25 (5 tries)
Age: 29
Club: Sale Sharks



Pros: Experience. Peel is Wales' most-capped Scrum-Half, a great honour when you look at those that have come before him, the likes of Gareth Edwards, Robert Jones and Robert Howley. He's got a very good pass on him and is pretty quick to the break down. Knows Stephen Jones very well (They're even opening a resteraunt together in Llanelli later this year) and as such is a good option to partner him, provided it is Steveo that starts instead of Hook.

Cons: He plays for Sale. Due to the EPS' stupid player release rules, Gatland hasn't had the time he wants to look at Peel and to train with him, and it also means that he falls outside of the 'Gatlands Law' idea he tried to introduce, hoping that Wales' best players would play in Wales.

Richie Rees
 
Caps: 10
Points: 5 (1 try)
Age: 27
Club: Cardiff Blues




Pros: His speed is essential. Richie Rees=Quick ball. Last autumn campaign when he came off the bench for Phillips every game, the tempo picked up so much for him, and he got his reward in the shape of a try against Austrailia. Richie Rees just turns up straight away and sends the ball onto the next player, opposed to Peel making sure his pass is perfect and Phillips just never turning up. If Wales are serious about wanting to play quicker rugby, they need Richie Rees, although his job may remain as an impact sub.

Cons: The accuracy of his passing isn't brilliant, but often that doesn't matter, as he's got Wales on the front foot anyway. His kicking is also an area he needs to improve if he's coming on to close out a tight game. If he can leave the decisson-making to a calmer head such as Stephen though, he could be just the ticket.


Tavis Knoyle

Caps: 3
Points: 0
Age: 21
Club: Scarlets




Pros: Tav is a half way point between every sort of Scrum-Half. He's straight to the break down like Rees, he's got a good pass like Peel and he's able to take players of physically like Phillips. He's also called Tavis Daffydd Knoyle. What a great name. And there's no 'R' in Tavis, either. He loves to try and go play quickly, hence why the Scarlets suit him so much. I'd love to see more of him in a Wales shirt.

Cons: Jack of all trades, master of none? Bit harsh, but he's not as quick as Rees, not as good a passer as Peel and not as big as Phillips. He's also only got the three caps, all of which under twenty minutes off the bench, however he has looked up to the pace of the game in all three of those games.

Lloyd Williams

Caps: 0
Points: 0
Age: 21
Club: Cardiff Blues





Pros: He's utterly rapid. He's got great acceleration, allowing him to make some lightening breaks off the back of scrums. He's also got a very good pass, a skill he no doubt learnt from his dad- Ex-Wales and Lions No. 9 and legend, Brynmor Williams.

Cons: ...Or so I think. He's hardly played. In fact, the picture above is of him playing for semi-pro Welsh outfit Glammorgan Wanders.And that's the only one I could find of him actually playing. He'd been on the bench for the Blues up until he missed 5 months injured. In fact, he's only played 15 games in total for the Blues, and scored 1 try. Can you make an international, never mind a World Cup player, out of that?

The other contendors
Not in the squad, but still could be wild cards....

Rhys Webb
Had a great season for the Ospreys, really the form scrum-half up until the very end of the season, not looking quite as sharp in the final few games. However, he could be an outside bet to make the team either way. He's already forced Phillips out of one starting XV, can he do it again?

Wayne Evans
He's also been in form for a while now but has been totally overlooked by Gatland. It's a shame, too, as he's a nuggety little character, a typical scrum-half who seems able to do no wrong. he';s outplayed almost every great scrum-half in Europe at some point, including everyone on this very list. Could be worth a shout.
  

Martin Roberts
Seemed a good bet just a year or so ago, but has rapidly fallen out of favour on all accounts. He's now dropped behind Knoyle for the Scarlets, to the point inwhich he's left to join Northampton Saints next season. it's a shame, as his pass is excellent, but he is a gobby little *Ahem*. If he could learn to shut his mouth, he could be a decent player. He'll probably only ever be famous for the photo on the left, however.


I could go into your Tommy Isaacs and your Nancy Griffiths, but I'll leave it there. Over all, I'd like to think that we've got quite good strength-in-depth at 9. However, that doesn't really seem the case. We've got some good players who could do a job in the shirt, but only Peel really who's a proper international class Scrum Half. However, I'd like to see Tav build up in the summer games pre-World Cup, as his mix of styles could be just the badger. Then again, I'm probably wrong and we should be picking Shane at 9.

Until next time,
ME. JUST ME.

Oh, hello there.

This is my first post in my new blog. I should probably make it a good one. I won't, however, as that wouldprobably be a bad reflection on what the rest of the blog will no doubt turn out being, if it becomes anything at all. See, it's been three years since I last tried my hand at blogging, and I think it's high time I gave it another go.

What shall I be blogging about? I really don't know.  Television, games and films will probably all get a mention, although I can see fish fingers being the main theme if we're not careful.

I'm not even sure who I'm going to be on this blog. Am I going to use my real name or go by some weird nickname I made up years back during my time as a high-profile member of the unofficial online LEGO communities? This shall all be discovered later.Possibly even now, as I sign myself off as 'Robbie'. See, I did warn you it'd probably be mostly ramblings.

Anyway! Keep checking back. I'll try and remeber to keep updating this blog, as I've always liked the concept of blogging. Maybe one day I'll even write something interesting. Just maybe. For now, though- Bye!

Robbie