This week, I’m going to be reccommending you a variety of timewasters that I feel deserve your attention, aswell as providing short reviews of each subject. I’ll be tackling literature, audio, gaming and fillm, so you better tell your eyes to hold off on a big meal, because they’re going to be swimming in information! Note: The cheese ends here.
GAMING CORNER – DEAD RISING 2: CASE ZERO
Case Zero was released on the Xbox Live Marketplace last week for a paltry sum of 400 MS points. While it is a rather predictable affair gameplay-wise, using largely unchanged mechanics from the first Dead Rising, it must be noted for its novel and unique concept. Not quite a demo, not quite a game in itself, the short story of Case Zero is a prequel to the full game, following Chuck Greene as he struggles to find wonder drug ‘Zombrex’ (sorry, I thought the cheese would stop back there, honest) and fix a motorcycle. Case Zero sets a precedent and opens up a whole new way of marketing games. The actual content is a snatch at 400 points, with 2 hours of gameplay time that easily lasts you 3 playthroughs. Anyone who cant wait for Dead Rising 2 later in the month will love this.
AURAL CORNER – THE RICKY GERVAIS SHOW
You may be forgiven for criticising my lateness to the party when it comes to podcasts, but this has dominated so much of my past week that I couldn’t leave it out. I only really discovered the wonders of podcasts a few weeks ago. The premise never really sounded exciting to me. ‘A few men chatting for half an hour? I could go down the local and do that!’ I thought. Nobody I’ve met in a pub has made me laugh more than the three men who feature in The Ricky Gervais Show, though. From features such as Monkey News (including monkey builders, monkey firemen and monkey eye surgeons) to hilarious anecdotes of nightclub embarrassment, it never fails to entertain. For the few people out there who have yet to discover podcasts, or have but somehow missed The Ricky Gervais Show, there are far worse ways to spend your time than listening to the ’round-headed little twat’ that is Karl Pilkington and company for half and hour.
Alright?
LITERATURE CORNER – WORLD WAR Z
World War Z, by Max Brooks, is one of the strongest depictions of war I have ever read. A truly multicultural book, it spans the length of the globe in its setting, from Kyoto to Antarctica, from New York to the International Space Station, covering characters of all ages, sizes and backgrounds. It is a marvel that such a book manages to turn a fictitious, impossible war into an almost-believable premise. A “zombie war” is documented by Brooks, but not in the traditional novel fashion. The book is written in the style of a reporter interviewing various survivors of the war against the Zombies, and features them recounting their experiences. Truly gripping, WWZ is my personal favourite book of the 21st Century, and possibly all time, and I couldn’t reccommend it enough.
FILM CORNER – CRANK
To complete the trio of vaguely-old subject reviews is Crank, a 2006 film starring Jason Statham. An intense, unstoppable thrill-ride, the film literally does not relent with the action sequences, within the first 3 minutes of the opening our character Chev Chelios is on a murderous rampage that does not let up until the film’s blinding end. Absurd, offensive and exciting, Crank (and also its equally brilliant sequel Crank 2) are the sort of films that are best enjoyed with a bunch of mates, a few beverages and a lack of women to complain that the gunfire is too loud. Go and get yourself a copy.
I'm completely serious when I say this is one of the slow-paced scenes.
Well, that’s it. Four things from varying ends of the entertainment world that have had me rolling around in happiness lately. Not literally. Ok maybe just a little. But only one, and it wasn’t a full barrell roll or any of that stuff. Forget I said anything.
