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Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Portal (PS3)

Developer: Valve Corporation
Publisher(s): Valve Corporation, Microsoft Game Studios, (XBLA)
Composer(s): Kelly Bailey, Mike Moraski, Jonathan Coulton
Platforms: Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Playstation 3, Xbox 360
Genre: Puzzle-Platformer
Mode: Single Player



Portal was released in 2007 for several platforms (usually sold with The Orange Box).  It was a huge success at the time, and it's still widely respected to this day.  You play as a human named Chell, who must complete several tests for the company Aperture Science.  She soon becomes equipped with some sort of gun (Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device) that can shoot two different colored portals: Blue and Orange.  When she shoots a certain color portal somewhere that she can reach and the other color somewhere else, she can jump into the first one and come out of the other.  It sounds pretty basic, right?  Well, this simple concept can be used to carry out very complicated tasks.  Here's an example of what would be considered a 'simple' task:



This game consists of 19 different levels, which become harder as the player progresses throughout the game.  The game is fairly short, and I beat it in several hours.  Although it is short, the game is very well made and it's very addicting.  I enjoyed it very much, and I recommend that anyone who hasn't played it yet to go play it now.  Overall, I'd give it a 10 out of 10 for the gameplay.  However, because the game is so short, I'd have to give it a 9 out of 10.  This is still quite a good score, though.  I hope you all enjoyed this brief review! ^^

Oh, and one more thing… Portal 2 comes out February 9th and I highly recommend looking into buying it.  As of what I've seen of it so far, it looks absolutely fantastic!

More info here.
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Friday, November 26, 2010

Slayers

The Slayers franchise is a long-time running series consisting of 52 light novels, 5 anime seasons, 5 movies, 2 OVA's, and various video games, manga series, and radio dramas. The light novel series first began in 1989, with the first season of the anime series released in 1995. In 1996 and 1997 two subsequent seasons followed season one: Slayers Next and Slayers Try (left) respectively. In 2008, the Slayers franchise added a new installment to its then dormant anime series, Slayers Revolution, which took advantage of new animation techniques, including cell-shading, that were not around during the creation of the series' first three seasons. A 5th season, Slayers Evolution-R, was produced in 2009. Currently in the U.S, Slayers Revolution and Slayers Evolution-R are being aired on the Funimation Channel-- Funimation having dubbed all 5 of the series' seasons in English.

I could describe the Slayers franchise as a fantasy-magical-world version Dragonball Z. The series follows Lina Inverse and her unlikely gang of friends as they defeat...evil. Pretty much. In terms of plot, the series is certainly no Code Geass but in its own right it is very entertaining. I find that the English dub is a bit more geared towards teenagers than say, the Dragonball series dub, both being produced around the same time. In general, the series is mostly comedy-action. In fact, it entirely is, but like say, One Piece, the uniqueness of the characters make for an interesting and fun story to follow. Please excuse the excessive references; this is the only way I know how to describe this series. Haha.

The first season introduces the main cast of characters, and it has a rather straightforward plot. Lina and her gang have to find Rezo the Red Priest and defeat the dark lord Shabranigdo. The next season and the third season dawn a more intense plot but keeping with the basic action-comedy theme. The newest installments introduce a new interesting character, and bring back some old characters from the original three seasons. I've been watching Slayers Evolution-R (right, showing the new cell shading) recently and I'm quite enjoying it having watched the earlier seasons. All in all the series is enjoyable if you're looking for a more straight forward action-filled and fun plot.

The theme songs are excellent. The first seasons' opening and ending are performed by Megumi Hayashibara, who voices Lina Inverse, and major anison singer Masami Okui. The subsequent seasons' openings are all performed by Megumi Hayashibara, including their endings excluding the ending of Slayers Next which was performed once again by Masami Okui.

Overall, the series gets a 7 out of 10 (7/10)
The theme songs get a 10 out of 10 (10/10). Freakin' awesome XD
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Thursday, November 25, 2010

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Technical Difficulties

Dear blog readers,
I apologize if Anime Forever is acting strangely.  We are currently undergoing some technical difficulties and we are working on it right now.
Thank you for your patience,
-Zangetsu270 Read more!

Monday, November 15, 2010

Arakawa Under the Bridge

Directed by: Akiyuki Shinbo
Studio: Shaft
No. of Episodes: 13

(9/10) Arakawa Under the Bridge was a great anime.  Of course, it's not for everyone.  This anime is probably the weirdest one that I have ever watched.  Now, I know that there are probably a lot of even weirder animes out there, but for me, it was strange.  It's basically about this guy named Kou Ichinomiya, who can never owe anyone anything.  He's actually the CEO of a major company, and he was very valuable.  He was raised with that strict rule where he couldn't owe anybody, however, and he was frowned upon by his father if he ever broke it.  So, he had lived his life without owing anyone anything, until he was 21.  He was chased down by a bunch of teenagers and his pants were ripped off of him.  The teenagers flew his pants like a flag up high on a bridge.  He needed to climb up the beam and get his pants down, without anyone's help.  He was just about to grab his pants, when all of the sudden his boxers started falling off.  A girl named Nino saw him and told him that if his boxers fell off anymore, it would be a public offense.  She offered to help him get his pants, but then he would owe her.  So, he continued on, hoping that his boxers wouldn't fall.  Instead, just as he grabbed his pants, the whole beam from the bridge fell.  He fell with it off the bridge and into the river.  He was being dragged down by the weight, and he thought that he was going to die.  Until, Nino jumped in after him and rescued him.  He was happy, but also very frantic.  He owed her more than anything, his life.  So, he offered her everything he could, except one thing.  She didn't want anything, except for him to become her lover.  Going by his rule, he had to accept.  Even worse, he had to live under a bridge with her and all of the other bridge dwellers.  This was looking like an adventure he didn't want to go on. (9/10)


Characters: (10/10)


Kou Ichinomiya - Serious; business-like -> caring & just plain ridiculous

Nino - Oblivious, forgetful, kind, strange (says that she's from Venus)

Village Chief (Mayor)- Thinks he's cool, very ridiculous, thinks that he's a Kappa

Sister - Kind, scary, A MAN

Star (Hoshi) - Can be cool & chill, or overdramatic

Whitey (Shiro) - Kind, can be business-like, but not productive

Metal Brothers - Hyper, playful, easily amazed

P-ko - Nice, dramatic, and a huge klutz

Maria - Cruel, harsh, uses her looks for manipulation

Stella - Cute, scary, mean


+ some more not AS IMPORTANT characters.  Overall, this anime was definitely worth watching.  The second season is airing right now, but I haven't had the chance to watch it yet.  I'm sure it will be worth it too, though!


More info HERE.
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Saturday, November 13, 2010

Call of Duty: Black Ops (1/2) Multiplayer

Originally posted on The Media and Computer Blog by Brad.

Developed by: Treyarch
Published by: Activision

Multiplayer is probably one of the most important parts of the Call of Duty series and that hasn't changed in Black Ops. Call of Duty: Black Ops Introduces the new currency system in which you can purchase guns, weapon attachments, perks, equipment and much more. Black Ops keeps all the old game types such as Search and Destroy, but it also adds new Wager Matches that allow you to bet money on the games you play. Along with wager matches, they also have training that helps you learn to play the game better. Black Ops also brings back Zombies, in which you basically just have to fight off zombies and advance in rounds, and the higher the round gets the harder it becomes. This game balances the power of many of the weapons, so there is no extremely powerful weapon. The perks also seem more balanced than they were in Modern Warfare 2. Most of the maps seem a little boring, though, and I personally think that Modern Warfare 2 had much better maps. The kill streaks are pretty nice and they have things such as the gunship and attack dogs, but I really feel like they could have added more.
Overall, the multiplayer in Call of Duty black Ops is extremely fun. The Call of Duty games have one of the best first person shooter multiplayer and I think you would be missing out if you didn't get this game.  Call of Duty: Black Ops multiplayer gets a 9 out of 10.

More info here.
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Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Fortune Arterial: Akai Yakusoku First Impression

Fortune Arterial: Akai Yakusoku is an anime that follows a teenage boy named Hasekura Kouhei. All of Hasekura's life he has been switching schools and moving to new places. He eventually decides to go back to an island that he once lived on, named Tamatsu island. Once there, he meets many of his old friends and discovers that some members of the student council members are vampires. I will admit that coming into this anime I had very low expectations, mainly because vampires are a bit cliche. Although, to my surprise, so far I have found the series to be pretty interesting. This anime has a unique plot for a vampire anime and almost no violence. So, it is really nothing like I expected it to be. This anime seems great so far and if you are at all interested I recommend checking it out.

The read more at the end of this post does nothing. 


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Perfume 17th Single "Nee"

Technopop girl group Perfume released their 17th single, 「ねぇ Nee」, Novemeber 10th, and I must say it is quite catchy. I'm not as fond of it as I am their previous two singles, but overall it was a good release. The song was used as a tie-in to a Natural Beauty Basic apparel company commercial. Earlier this year, Perfume made another tie-in with Natural Beauty Basic, appearing in another TV commercial with their song 「ナチュラルに恋して Natural ni Koishite」. The B-side,「FAKE IT」, is actually a really catchy tune. I think it's rather unique. I like it!

「ねぇ」 (8/10)
「FAKE IT」 (7/10) Read more!

Monday, November 8, 2010

Kawada Mami 9th single "No Buts!"

Kawada Mami released her 9th single, 「No Buts!」, on Novemeber 3. She has done multiple anime openings, including openings to Shakugan no Shana and To Are Majitsu no Index The titular track of the new single is being used as the opening to To Aru Majitsu no Index II. Mami's voice sounds a bit different, a bit more KOTOKO-like; however, it's still a good song with the same rock-techno sound and singing ability we get from Mami. The B-side is a bit mediocre, however. A typical Kawada release.

「No Buts!」 (6/10)
SATANIC」 (5/10) Read more!

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Super Smash Bros. Brawl Gameplay

Super Smash Bros. Brawl - only for Wii.

This is just a post that shows you what SSBB is actually like when you're playing.  The videos below include: every character's Final Smash, & some examples of typical brawls you might have.  I hope you enjoy!
P.S. - I do not own these videos and I do not take credit for them.  I will try to get some of my own videos in the future, though.

FINAL SMASHES


TYPICAL FIGHTS (TOURNAMENT)
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Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Shugo Chara!

A rather popular anime in Japan from 2008-2009, Shugo Chara!, is not your average magical girl series (but, it still is). The story revolves around Hinamori Amu, a 5th-6th grader at Seiyo Elementary who's struggling with a rather backwards problem—the kids at school think she's "cool and spicy," but alas, that is not her true self. After wishing to be her "would-be self" one night, she wakes up the next morning with three patterned eggs in her bed of three colors: red, blue, and green. The eggs hatch into Amu's guardian characters (shugo kyara): one a sporty, peppy cheerleader, one a soft-spoken artist, and the other a girly, housewife-like girl. When Amu is invited into the Guardians, her school's student council, things get interesting when they reveal their own guardian characters to her, and Amu is named the Joker, as the only member of the guardians with the ability to perform a character transformation (sort of a fusion with a guardian character) and purify X-eggs, children's eggs of the heart that have been tainted by sadness or by forced means. And so Amu and the Guardians fight Easter, an evil organization bent on finding the Embryo, the legendary egg that will make one wish come true.

Aside from a slightly repetitive storyline, the plot focuses on Amu's relationships with Tadase (the King, leader of the Guardians, and the boy Amu likes), and Ikuto (a loner, and member of Easter that constantly bugs Amu). Although rather obvious who Amu will end up with, the anime's romance is actually quite enticing, if you're into rather cute-ish love stories (XD). The fanbase takes very radical standpoints. Either you're a diehard Amuto fan (Amu x Iktuo) or a diehard Tadamu dan (Amu x Tadase), and there are much more Amuto fans, much to my dismay. Yes, I am a Tadamu fan. In fact, Tadase is my favorite anime character. But anyway...

Overall, the manga is much much better than the anime. After season one, the anime strays very far from the manga and gets extremely repetitive. I suggest reading the manga if you were to dive into this series. It really is a good series, combining elements of magical girl, innocent romance, comedy, and a pretty good storyline (the whole concept is really great though). I would rate the anime's first season a 7/10, the second season, Shugo Chara Doki!!, a 5/10, and the manga a 9/10 (but I'm kinda biased). The theme songs are extremely poppy, and all are done by Hello!Project units formed specifically for the purpose of the anime. All of the endings are by Buono!, a 3-member H!P unit, and all of them are simply amazing in my opinion. I'm into the cute-pop songs though (although Buono! adds some rock), ahaha.

I recommend this manga series strongly. It ended, and is only about ten volumes long, so it's a quick read that is definitely worth it. 9/10.
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