The Motorcycle Diaries

A dramatization of Che Guevara's exploration of Chile, Peru, and Venuzuela with his friend Alberto Granado. Beautifully done. Highly recommended. Will fuel the flames of the revolutionary within anyone. maybe.

Call of Duty 2 (pc) Game Review

When the original Call of Duty was released a few years ago, it made an impact both on critics and on consumers, even in the already-crowded WWII shooter genre. Call of Duty's visceral action struck a chord with PC shooter fans, thanks to a well-designed campaign, enjoyable multiplayer, and outstanding sound effects. If you liked those aspects of the original, then you're sure to enjoy the sequel, which stays true to the strengths of its predecessor, while enhancing the sense that you're just one soldier in the midst of a massive war machine. It doesn't really break any new ground, but the game nails the core aspects of first-person-shooter gameplay so well that it doesn't need to.

As in the first game, Call of Duty 2's campaign will put you in the shoes of a few different soldiers fighting for different Allied factions. You start off as a private in the Russian army, visciously fighting off the invading Germans in Moscow and Stalingrad. The British campaign is unlocked after beating the first Russian mission. For most of these missions you'll be fighting in the sand-swept deserts of North Africa alongside the Desert Rats against Field Marshal Rommel's troops. The final mission in the British campaign sends you to the bombed-out houses and hedgerows of Caen, France. After you're done with that, you'll play as an American corporal in Europe. Yes, you will be doing a D-Day landing, but not on Omaha Beach or Utah Beach, which you've probably played several times before. Instead, you'll be scaling the sheer cliffs of Pointe du Hoc as artillery with the Army Rangers. If you already thought rock climbing was an "extreme" sport, try doing it with artillery and machine-gun fire raining down on you.

-Gamespot Reviews

FEAR (pc) Game Review

Monolith hit this one out of the park. Fast, Fun, Spooky.

The challenge in describing F.E.A.R. is trying to avoid any spoilers, because this is definitely a game that you want to experience unspoiled. What we can tell you is that you play as the newest member of the First Encounter Assault Recon, the military's top-secret task force assigned to deal with paranormal situations. And the mission in F.E.A.R. certainly counts as above and beyond the regular call of duty. As explained in the opening cinematic (which is also game's only third-person cutscene), a military commander named Paxton Fettel goes insane and takes command of a secret army of cloned soldiers that are telepathically linked to him. Fettel and the battalion of elite soldiers then go on the rampage in a nondescript American city. They appear to be searching for something, though their objective is a mystery. It's up to you and the rest of the F.E.A.R. team, along with units of Delta Force, to find out what it is they're looking for and stop them.

F.E.A.R. works because it elevates first-person shooter combat to cinematic levels. And while we've certainly seen games with movie-quality combat before, you've never seen anything quite like this. Playing F.E.A.R. is like battling through a John Woo movie like Face/Off, because when firefights happen in this game, they're downright glorious to behold. Bullets tear chunks out of concrete and wood; blinding clouds of dust and debris fill the air; bodies are torn apart or slump on the ground; and the deathly silence of the aftermath contrasts so sharply with the sheer chaos that erupted only moments before. Gunfights in F.E.A.R. just feel right. - Gamespot Reviews

Movie: Cat Soup

When little kitten Nyaako’s soul is
stolen by Death, she and her brother
Nyatta embark on a bizarre journey
to get it back. In the surreal dreamscape
of the Other Side, they encounter many
fantastic characters and remarkable,
often disturbing adventures.

From a hallucinatory sea voyage to
a rambunctious carnival, the two kittens
travel far from home and discover just how
strange and miraculous the world can be.

Strange is right. This oddball short is Yuji Matsukura's more art than anime production. Check it out when you're in the mood to have your head spun a bit. 4.5 out of 5.
Cat Soup

Hands On: Nintendo DS

Nintendo. One word that can represent twenty years of video game innovation. Keeping this in mind, we move to the Nintendo DS, a handheld Wi-Fi ready VoIp enabled dual color display with touch sensitivity. That plays games. Not just any games, Nintendo games. Compatiable with all previous game boy advance and game boy color titles, you won't be breaking the bank by needing to buy all new cartridges. Light, bright, long battery life, and creative titles for all ages make this little handheld a colossus in the portable war. Trade in your old gameboy and get the DS for $100 at Electronics Boutique.
NintendoDS