Round Up
I left the house for the first time since Tuesday this morning, it’s good to be back out in the real world once again. It’s now Sally’s turn to be thick with cold, but at least hers came out straight away and she hasn’t had the fever, loss of voice or general feeling like crap that I had. Fortunately, I’m feeling a whole lot better now and in a bizarre way I’m actually looking forward to going back to work on Monday (and earning money again).
During my incarceration period I’ve had plenty of time to catch up with games, movies and TV. Here’s a quick round up of what I’ve been enjoying (other than Superbad, obviously as I’ve just reviewed it).
The Orange Box (Xbox 360) – I have sunk a ridiculous twenty hours into The Orange Box since it arrived just after Christmas. Around twelve for Half-Life 2, three for Episode One and five for Episode Two. Plus a little bit of re-treading time to get some of the Achievements. It’s amazing how you can come back to games you have already played and enjoyed them even more. Being able to play the “episodic” releases back to back after HL2 really helps. Poor Gordon Freeman, he never even stops to catch a breath or nip to the toilet.
Old fogey gamers like me will remember a company called Beau Jolly back in the 80s. They used to release compilation tapes and CDs on the Spectrum/C64/Amstrad of multiple games such as Chuckie Egg, Jet Set Willy, Sabre Wulf, etc. The Orange Box is the closest thing to those old days. Of course Jet Set Willy cost slightly less to produce than Portal, but you get the idea.
The best value videogame package of 2007? Without a doubt.
Bones Season One (DVD) – I really like Bones. In the very early episodes it almost seems to be trying too hard to be the next X-Files from the themes of the episodes to the music being eerily similar to Mark Snow’s score. David Boreanaz even states in the pilot “spit in my hand, we’re Scully and Mulder”. But it has forged ahead and is consistently one of the best shows on TV. We have watched a lot of these episodes back to back ever since Christmas and finished the box set last night.
As with many US shows having 22 episodes per season means that are some rather below-par episodes during the middle of the season, but a bad episode of Bones is still a lot better than a lot of stuff on TV right now. There is also enough variation in the stories that it doesn’t get boring. Extra special bonus points to the comic book kid episode.
Oh it’s also worth noting that the quality of the encoding on Fox’s DVDs has increased dramatically in the last couple of years. The awful transfer of early seasons of 24 seems to be a distant memory, Bones looks bright and colourful when upscaled through my Toshiba HD DVD player.
I hope the WGA strike ends soon, I want more episodes of this great show.
Inspector Morse – The Complete Collection (DVD) – I’ve been wanting to buy this box set for a long time, but the £150 price tag has always put me off. Fortunately, Virgin (or Zavvi as they are now known) had the set in their sale for £49, so we’ve watched the first couple of episodes so far.
I’m a fan of quality drama from anywhere in the world, and the Morse stories while looking somewhat dated now (series one was originally broadcast in 1987), the quality of the mysteries is definitely standing the test of time.
Thirty three discs for £49. Bargain.
The Bourne Ultimatum (HD DVD) – Bourne’s final adventure (for now), and a great end to the trilogy. This HD DVD is a great release too, it looks and sounds fantastic and has some good web-enabled special features.
The only thing I can find to moan about this movie is the VERY annoying hand-held camera stuff that director Paul Greengrass seems to love. He employs these for the fight sequences which work extremely well, but during close up conversation between the characters is just plain annoying, moving all over the place.
People who get motion sickness must love him.
I was fortunate enough to receive a money off voucher from Play just before Christmas (thanks Paul!) so I raided their HD DVD 3 For 2 offer with Batman Begins, The Polar Express and V for Vendetta.
Batman looks absolutely stunning, old news I know as the movie has been out for such a long time already, but this HD DVD is spot on, no black level or noise issues, it looks and sounds great. The Polar Express arrived this morning but I’m not going to watch it yet, Sally and I are going to London next weekend and are going to see the move at the iMax. The festive season may have passed but I’m really looking forward to my first iMax 3D experience.
V also looks great. Ah Warner Brothers, remember them? HD DVD does.
Call of Duty 4 (Xbox 360) – Maybe I have been playing too much Orange Box, but I just can’t get into CoD 4 right now. I was talking with Ian, Bournemouth finest purveyor of coffee on NYE (Coffee Republic in Bournemouth, Lansdowne – near the College, go there, the coffee is sublime) and he felt the same way until it all kicks off. I’ve been through the first couple of missions but so far it’s not really doing it for me.
I actually did something fairly similar with CoD 2 when the 360 originally launched. I went through Condemned, Kameo and Perfect Dark before really getting into Call of Duty, but when it all clicked I loved it. Hopefully 4 will do the same for me when the time comes.
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I’d agree with you on CoD4 – very hard to get into. Theres a fantastic mission where you go back 15 years and play as the SAS group’s captain quite far into the game… before it felt like I was forcing myself to play through, but from there it’s really enjoyable.
never tried the hddvd before, don’t think it would make much of a difference on my old fashioned TV
Yah, my COD 4 experience was the same. I haven’t even finished the single player yet. I love the multiplayer experience but I hated the first level. It felt so . . . linear. But that’s what COD games are.
I had just finished Oblivion when COD 4 came out (yes . . . it took me like a year . . . I was taking my time !) so to go from something so open ended to something so corridor shooter . . . well at the time I hated it. I was sorry I spent the money on it. But the fact that the entire level lists and rolls while you’re playing was pretty cool.
But as the game goes on I like it more and more. However I have to finish Assassins Creed now . . . I’m so very close.
As for the Orange Box . . . love it. But none of my friends ever play Team Fortress and when I get on to play . . . well I just dont do very well. I’d rather loose to friends then listen to the taunts of 9 year olds.
I’m glad its not just me then who has found this with CoD 4. I’ve been steering clear of gaming this week so far mainly due to lack of time, but I’ll definitely persevere with it when I get more time.
There are 13 Morse books. Have you read any of them? I have read 3 so far and they’ve all been great reads.
I read a couple of the later ones but not the earlier stories.
I’ve worked my way through to series three of the box set so far, great stuff!