Pan's Labyrinth

I finally watched it, much later than I originally intended. I knew going in that it wasn't a pure fantasy film, with Ofelia's psychotic stepfather chasing down rebels after the Spanish Civil War playing a large part, but I didn't expect the balance to be tipped quite so far towards the period stuff. It wasn't a detriment to the film, with that aspect being as intriguing as the fantasy parts, it's just not what I thought I'd see. del Toro's done some big (if quirky) Hollywood action movies like Hellboy and the upcoming adaptation of The Hobbit, but he does a lot of work in his native Spanish like this, and the film is clearly a labor of love. It's completely unflinching, and no corners were cut to make it more accessible. Besides being filmed in Spanish with an unknown cast (outside of Mexico), the supernatural elements aren't played to be kid-friendly at all and the violence is starkly brutal.

You see it mostly in the "real" world, and mostly caused by Captain Vidal. There are some strange things to be seen, but he stands out as the most distinctive part. Watching him after a point is like watching a train wreck. I've heard people say the movie doesn't glorify violence, but it sure doesn't mind lingering on it, sometimes showing more than they probably have to. He doesn't cross the line of showing too much though, it's not what I'd call horror or anything. I did flinch quite a bit though. The violence does a tremendous job of characterizing the captain and showing why Ofelia needs her imagination just to get away.

Besides the mesmerizing visuals, which really are truly fantastic besides one weak CG-created creature, the story of the movie is quite good. Ofelia has some traits of an annoyingly dumb protagonist, messing things up which could have easily been avoided, but she's still sympathetic because of the gravity of the situation and how she ultimately deals with it. The plot isn't exactly complicated, but there's enough to it to stay interesting, and the script and direction are very good about letting you figure out what's happening instead of beating you over the head with it, and cluing you in on certain details with smart camera work instead of exposition. The ending is ambiguous, but in a way that I found interesting to think about. My biggest complaint is really that I just wanted to see more of the world, both inside the labyrinth and out. Along with Children of Men, it's a great film from 2006 by a Mexican director that I waited too long to see.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

I named Oblivion my favorite game of 2006 over a year ago, but I never got around to writing a full review, as that's something I didn't start doing until after I had been into it for a while and I wasn't sure at what point I should do so. Now's as good a time as any, as I've probably come as close as I ever will to seeing all there is to see, and I'm about to start playing the prequel, which I'm going to make a new blog for.

Oblivion really isn't like other games for me. I usually play focused single-player games until I complete the story, and then I move on. I might unlock some bonus stuff or eventually replay the game if I like it a lot, but I don't have enough time to give everything the attention it deserves. This is definitely not how I play Oblivion. All told, I've spent nearly two hundred hours exploring Cyrodiil, the Shivering Isles, and Mehrunes Dagon's Deadlands. Even after I get sick of it, it's only a matter of time before I come back, although the chances of that happening again diminish as I complete more quests, reducing the ones I haven't tackled to a very small number. I've split time between four different characters, and really immersed myself in the world.

The closer game designers get to creating a believable place, the easier it is for little things to break the suspension of disbelief, and that happens quite a bit, with the new AI system failing to prevent many awkward situations, although it's still cool how people can move from place to place, attack you if you've wronged them, and even get killed. The fact that all of their dialogue is voiced is also impressive, since there's so much of it, although it gets annoying when you hear the same voice over and over or the actor changes for a character based on the line they're saying. The music and sound effects are also quite good, with a score that's more atmospheric than memorable and appropriate magic and battle sounds. The graphics are pretty good, although it's hard to find a face using the character creation system that isn't pretty ugly and I wish the outdoor areas ran a little better on my system. The game crashes far too often, although the nice Autosave prevents it from being too much of a hassle.

Gameplay wise, the strength of the series has always been the variety. You can focus on pure combat, stealth, magic, or a combination. The ability to customize your own class instead of picking one from a list and improve any skill just by using it gives you a ton of flexibility in creating a fun, unique, and powerful character. The melee fighting isn't great if you're looking for a normal action experience, but it's pretty robust and strategic. Sneaking around, avoiding enemies and picking locks is way more fun than I expected it to be, and my favorite character ended up basically being a ninja master almost able to walk right by someone's face without them noticing, as long as there wasn't a light source in my face. I didn't explore the different schools of magic as much as I could have, but the different spells were also fun to play with, and I ended up collecting a lot of ingredients and making potions, useful when adventuring or just to sell for profit. A couple complains I can see are the simplification of the skill system, which didn't really bother me, and the level system, which does have some flaws. You improve your abilities through repeated use, but to improve your fundamental characteristics, you have to rest and level up. This would be fine, but every enemy in the game, except for a couple quest-specific ones, levels up with you, so you're never too over or under-powered. I'm mixed on this. On the one hand, the ability to go anywhere and do anything, knowing that you will be fairly challenged, is nice. On the other, it takes away the fun of becoming a very powerful character and being able to stomp certain enemies when you think you should be able. It doesn't make sense that goblins living in the sewers under the capital city become badasses just because I'm around. Taking away that progression is disappointing, although it ultimately doesn't hurt the game that much.

What's great about the game is that you can just wander around, and something interesting will always pop up, whether it's a clever side quest or just an enemy encounter you didn't expect. And when you're bored of that, there's the main quest and different factions to play through if you want some structure. The storylines that weave their way through the various paths you can take range from mildly interesting to brilliant, and they're all worth playing through. Not every line of dialogue is a winner, but it's an entertaining game with a really deep background, full of lore and history. I haven't been engrossed more by another RPG.

Strange Wilderness

This movie was highly idiotic, and I kind of feel like an idiot myself for liking it as much as I did. But I couldn't help it, and I ended up laughing as much as I have in a long time. The cast isn't huge, but practically everybody you see is recognizable from some other dumb comedy, and they all come together to create a perfect storm of idiotic, humorous personalities. Most of them are veterans of Happy Madison productions (which is Adam Sandler's company, so you kind of get where the attitude comes from), which also includes the director, Fred Wolf. He kind of takes the casual, sit-back-and-watch approach, as the movie is dominated more by over-the-top, silly performances than anything that seems planned or rehearsed. Steve Zahn is the main character, and as always, he makes the most of the material. This is probably the best I've ever seen him, he manages to be both the collected leader of the group while still having a bunch of great character moments. Jonah Hill plays a bizarre character that never really says anything of value, and other people like Justin Long do a good job with little substance to work with.

The plot of the movie is actually a bit more complicated than it has to be. It's about the crew of a nature show trying to save it from cancellation by tracking down Bigfoot and doing an episode about him. Their quest takes them all over the place, as they have to get money and find different people. It doesn't seem to matter much, as they just end up doing the same dumb things over and over while making strange comments. There are a few bits of unnecessarily grotesque genital-related physical comedy, but it doesn't end up hurting the movie. My favorite parts are when Zahn narrates nature footage, which are always filled with inaccuracies and plenty of good laughs. The ending is also pretty abrupt and unusual. In no way am I recommending this to anyone who wants to watch something of value, but as far as moronic comedies go, it's one of the best I've seen in a while.

Prey

Prey did portals before Portal. It didn't do them as well, but it's still a very creative, enjoyable shooter. Earlier this year, it was offered on Steam for the cheap price of five bucks, and I couldn't pass that up. It's not a great game, but it's fun, and easily worth that price at least. There aren't that many weapons in the game, but all the firearms are pretty interesting visually, being made of either advanced technology or small aliens, and have multiple uses. Most enemies are pretty dumb and don't make for particularly entertaining confrontations, but Human Head Studios throws in enough gimmicks, from ghost children to gravity-defying walkways, to keep it fresh. You can also use your spirit powers (Native Americans are magic!) to fight in other ways and solve some environmental puzzles. Trudging around and shooting up aliens could have gotten boring, but all the disorientating, unique environments prevent repetition from getting too grating. The puzzles get too simple once you figure out the different tricks they have, but that only really manifested as a flaw near the end, when what should have been a set-up for a gigantic, brain-bending final challenge ended up being tragically easy.

Visually, the game is pretty impressive even though it came out a couple years ago. This comes mostly from the effects and architecture of the giant ship you spend most of the game in, which is really inventive and varied, and best when it opens up to reveal grand, far-off vistas conveying the scale of it all. The character models are less impressive. I'm not sure if it's something with the perspective, but their heads seem too big and they animate a little awkwardly. The sounds of the alien setting are good and some of the music choices are really nice, especially the best use of "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" I've seen, but the voice acting is uneven. Some are fine, including Art Bell playing himself as people call in to describe the alien invasion going on, but others, including the main character unfortunately, are just clumsy. The story is decent, and does an adequate job of unfolding naturally as most modern shooters try. It ends on a cliffhanger, which I'm semi-interested in seeing the supposed sequel resolve.