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Talraen's review of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

Scott Pilgrim vs. The Graphic Novels

I'll admit up front that this really isn't a review so much as an excuse for me to talk about the translation of Scott Pilgrim from graphic novel to movie. But I do like reviewing stuff, so for starters, here's a review of the movie for those who haven't read the graphic novels.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is a movie for a fairly specific audience. This movie is chock full of video game references, but that's not really what restricts its viewership. While you'll miss a few of the jokes if you have no video game background, most of the really important bits are pretty straightforward (such as the Street Fighter-esque "KO!" at the end of fights). No, the reason I wouldn't send my mom to see this movie is because the structure is a bit crazy. Zany is another good word.

The basic premise here is that the titular character starts obsessing over the new girl in town, they start dating, and then he has to defeat her seven evil exes in combat. Yeah, this isn't your standard twenty-something romance flick. They don't bother explaining why Scott can hold his own against the exes and their superhuman abilities, and that's just fine. The fight scenes are highly entertaining, provided you're not expecting real-world logic to apply (that statement really goes for the entire movie).

Scott Pilgrim is especially notable for its casting. Every character really works, even if it's hard to keep track of who some of them are and why they're around. For instance, why does Scott associate with Julie, who's basically a bitch at every turn? This is the sort of character development you lose in the translation from graphic novel to movie. Most of the characters work right from the get-to, though, especially Scott's gay roommate and most of the evil exes.

The only real problem I can see people having with this movie is with the main characters. Scott Pilgrim is played by Michael Cera, who some people can't seem to stand. I can't honestly say that he's playing a much different character here than he always does, though as Scott he's much more of an asshole, which I guess is something. His love interest, Ramona Flowers, is well-played, but there's very little chemistry between the two. This is the biggest flaw in the movie, but the way events play out, it still kind of works.

In the end, Scott Pilgrim is nothing if not highly entertaining. The fights are great, the banter is highly amusing, the characters are colorful, and the zaniness all manages to work. You know, provided you're not put off by random video game references and a complete disregard for any sort of explanation.

Featured Review

Talraen's review of Knife of Dreams (Robert Jordan)

Let's Get This Ending Started

While it was certainly never intended as such, Knife of Dreams now feels almost like a bridge between the Robert Jordan era of the Wheel of Time and the Brandon Sanderson era. There are several reasons for this, but mostly it's because the previous 10 books were building the plot up, and book 11 finally starts to barrel towards an ultimate conclusion. Despite that, this is the last book (I assume) that introduces any major new plotlines, but they're all pretty awesome, so it's OK.

Knife of Dreams is the book long time Wheel of Time fans have been waiting for (or more specifically, the first book we've been waiting for). Several plotlines that have dragged on for a few books are finally resolved, major events happen, and a few long-prophesied events finally come to pass. Plus, there's a whole lot of Mat here, and this is where Egwene started to become my favorite character.

All that said, in some ways the book feels a bit rushed. Jordan didn't start promising us that the next book would be the last until after Knife of Dreams came out, but you can sort of tell it was written to finally start resolving things. Whether the style feels rushed because that's how Jordan writes endings or because he put extra effort into keeping things under control, we'll never know. What I do know, which is really weird, is that this book actually feels a bit like a Brandon Sanderson book, at least in how things get resolved. In some ways I feel like I wouldn't have been able to accept the change in authors without it. Of course, I may be crazy and just seeing things, but that's how I felt.

But don't think the feeling of being rushed is a bad thing. Long-time fans probably won't, but I should be clear here: this book is great. The pace is picked up, and even though some new information is introduced, it's all very much aimed at setting up the end of the series. If you were to draw a diagram of the breadth of the plot of the Wheel of Time, Knife of Dreams is not only the first time it starts to narrow, it does so dramatically.

11 books into a series, there isn't much I can say that isn't a spoiler, but this book does a much better job of pacing than its predecessor's experimental layout. There are four major plotlines interspersed with some other important events, covering pretty much every relevant character. The prologue is especially notable, not because of its length (which, while extreme, in on par with other late WoT books), but because it brings many of the secondary plotlines to a head. They aren't all that interesting on a first read (let's be honest, it's hard to stay interested in Ituralde until we find out why we should care, which is yet to come), but it's not the slow-moving mess it's been in some previous books.

While it is extremely sad that this was Robert Jordan's last book, it's good for all Wheel of Time fans that he got things rolling here. Had Sanderson or another author stepped in after book 10, the transition would have been much more jarring. Knife of Dreams doesn't feature the fantastic writing of its predecessor, but things happen, which at this point is all fans really wanted.

If nothing else, Knife of Dreams reassured me that the ending will be worth the wait. In the grand scheme of things, this is more the intro to the ending than its actual beginning, serving to end a number of penultimate plotlines, but the payoffs are worth it. They may not be worth 11 whole books, but that's what the last three are for. We hope.

Featured Review

Talraen's review of Madden NFL 11 (360)

The Madden Game I've Been Waiting For

For the past three years, I've purchased the new Madden game, played it a bit, lost horribly to my brother, and given up on it. I considered not buying this year's version, but I felt like I finally "get" football enough to enjoy the game, so I took the plunge - and I'm glad I did. I've long said that there should be a tutorial mode of some kind that teaches you how to play football, and more importantly why you call certain plays at certain times, and while this game doesn't quite do that, it comes pretty close and does so seamlessly.

I could go on reviewing this game for quite a while, but it seems best to stick to the really important stuff. To me, the biggest improvement in Madden 11 is the coordinator speech option. Basically, when you get to the line after each play call, your offensive or defensive coordinator will give you some advice about running the play. On offense this advice is mostly about gameplay (warning you to avoid double-coverage, advice to stay behind blocks on a run, etc.), but on defense - the part of the game most casual fans don't really get - the advice works as an effective learning tool. Generally your coordinator will let you know what the weaknesses are in the defense you called, which in turn gives you some idea which defenses work against which types of plays. Sometimes the advice is more direct (for instance, I learned here how safeties are useful against the run). I still have no idea what really makes you prefer zone versus man coverage, but at least I can read a play and adjust to it.

And that brings me to the second change, the strategy pad. I'm not nearly familiar enough with prior Maddens' audible system to know why longtime fans hate the strategy pad, but they do. Personally, I love it, because it organizes audibles logically and makes them easy to learn. There's a lot more you can do on defense, but I found generalized audibles more useful, especially since the computer doesn't give you a lot of time. On offense you're mostly limited to adjusting receiver routes, but doing so is key to exploiting defenses, so that's fine.

The audible system in general has been much improved as well. While the strategy pad lets you make specific adjustments, you can also (as always) switch to entirely different plays. The key improvement this year is that you have a number of audibles, both on offense and defense, which adjust the play but not the formation. This is especially helpful on defense, since the original play call determines how many linemen and linebackers you have on the field, but these audibles take all that into account, while a normal play audible may put players out of position. On offense, it's easy to switch from run to pass if you see exploitable coverage, and the strategy pad lets you make further fine adjustments. And you have all of the basic options you'd want available: man, zone, or blitz on defense, and run, play action, or quick and deep passes on offense.

The presentation of the game is downright amazing. I don't know if previous games did all the cool franchise stuff, such as a recap show with actual NFL network hosts and whatnot, but the in-game presentation is much improved. Gus Johnson takes over as the play-by-play guy, and his excitement is a huge improvement over the robotic calls of previous games. In-game chants and touchdown celebrations really make you feel like you're actually playing in a given stadium. Unfortunately, this all works better on an individual game basis - you'll find the same quarterback comparison speech given for almost every season game, and I didn't hear any announcing about playoff implications or anything else outside the current game except for season statistical totals.

Of course, the gameplay is as solid as its ever been, and I really enjoyed it because I'm finally getting good at it. The removal of the sprint button has a lot to do with that, and is as welcome here as it was in the NHL series. I do find the computer can break tackles far more proficiently than I can, but my rushing game doesn't really seem to suffer for it, so that's OK. There do seem to be too many breakaway plays from scrimmage, and too few on punt and kick returns (I never had a kick return go beyond the 35, or a punt return of more than 20 yards). And Lawrence Tynes seems to have no range as a field goal kicker, but that's a much more specific complaint.

All in all, Madden 11 is a great football game, especially for those who (like me) like football but are intimidated by playcalling, especially on the defensive side. Madden 11 even has an automatic playcalling feature that speeds up the game dramatically and avoids that feeling that you'd be doing better if you knew what you were doing. (Though I'd still advise asking Madden on defense, if only because you have so little time to make adjustments that you really don't want to have to study the play you called before making them.)