James Bond

To commemorate the franchise's 50th anniversary on the big screen, I will be talking in general about it, as well as reviewing the latest one, Skyfall, while talking about my memories of the N64 GoldenEye game.

I thought it would be fitting to be talking about not necessarily a movie franchise I praise with the highest esteems, but more of a cool, edgy and action series that I happened to have grew up with. So what keeps us coming back to James Bond, the British spy agent with the code number 007? Is it the locations? Is it the cars? Is it the women perhaps?

I think it's the overall structure of each film that has changed slightly over the decades. And maybe it's also because we secretly want to be an undercover agent ourselves. Infiltrate suspicious companies and groups, having a license to kill and along the way making out with random gorgeous women.

Personally, the infiltration scenes of any movie and the memorable henchmen and villains are my reasons for liking James Bond. Of course, gadgets, locations, supportive characters and plots can add up towards that.

Still, it's odd to say this again, but although I can enjoy them no matter how many incarnations there are of the same general plot, they have never been truly remarkable films for me. Well, maybe only 1 time, with On Her Majesty's Secret Service(1969) starring George Lazenby.

It happens to be my favorite James Bond title for a number of reasons. First off, the choreography was the most impressive after the previous 60's Bond films and it even rivals others afterwards. Second, I enjoyed the cold setting of Switzerland and the unfolding plot.

The best thing about the movie are surprisingly the romance and the drama inside of it, two genres that really don't dominate the franchise. Bond falls in love and marries the Bond Girl featured in here, but after he thinks that the danger is over, he loses her, presented in such a way in what can only be deemed as a classic scene.

GoldenEye(1995) is another memorable one for not only introducing Pierce Brosnan as Bond and perhaps the most crowded group of villains yet, it also was adapted into the most popular first person shooter for the Nintendo 64.

Rare, the developer of the game who was once Nintendo's strongest 2nd party, successfully brought the genre towards consoles, giving us not only an identical journey through the singleplayer mode, it's multiplayer mode was immensely popular during the late 90's as well.

It would only take a few years before superior titles would show up, including Perfect Dark, also developed by Rare. But despite that, GoldenEye remains a favorite period of a trip traveling back to the past.

Now I will give you my Skyfall review. If you thought Casino Royale(2006) felt rebootish, wait until you see this one. It’s plot is simple, yet effectively makes a good relation between James Bond and M, his superior. Furthermore, traditional characters such as Q and Moneypenny finally return with some dignity towards the series.

The mission is essentially to reclaim a secret list of NAVO infiltrators from a terrorist, but personal relations soon take over the theme of Skyfall. The action scenes were pretty good and varied, but not so memorable. The humor touch of Bond actually is improved from previous films, which is also good. 

Raoul Silva is a traditional and impressive villain that reminded me most of all of 006 in GoldenEye, also carrying vengeance and isn’t as megalomaniacal as many others. The movie felt familiar, but also re-introduces to us objects and characters from the past.

There are also a few cameo references, such as the “For Your Eyes Only” line, or the classic Aston Martin car with gadgets such as the ejection button. The theme sung by Adele felt as an effective tool for hyping up the film, and it succeeded of course.

The only nitpicking I can think of this movie is that although any movie can have a simple plot and be effective, Skyfall lacked for me a few more interactive and varied scenes that don’t necessarily have to be action related.

I don’t know, despite that the runtime is roughly 2 and a half hours, it could had been more interesting with perhaps a background plot happening, or more detailed mission briefings and/or character development.

Other than that, consider Skyfall as one of the best Bond films from any time, certainly Craig’s best yet even though Casino Royale had a lot of style as well. 

Rating: 7.0

Top 10 Wii Games

It's time to bid the Wii farewell and enter the eight generation of console video gaming tommorrow. Before it's successor will arrive, let me put up the top 10 Wii games according to myself. Some runner-ups just missing out are Muramasa: The Demon Blade, Kirby: Return to Dreamland, Disaster: Day of Crisis, Super Paper Mario and Donkey Kong Country Returns.

10.Fatal Frame II

The most haunting experience available for the Wii. Alas, it's a remake, but it remains an impressive horror title with enhanced Wii controls, graphics and new content such as the entertaining multiplayer mode where you are able to scare others manually. Fatal Frame II is not only the most fulfilling scary packed game with varied creepiness, it's also different in how it approaches gameplay.

9.Ōkami

Aesthetical tale from Capcom for all the pessimists out there that do not believe that there is art in video games. An epic nippon journey, Ōkami has very familiar gameplay to the 3D Zelda games, but can easily stand for itself because of its unique attributes to visual detail, great Wii controls and well constructed music. Rejuvenate your surroundings, banish evil demons and bring happiness and peace back as the god of the sun. This long game is packed with originality and satisfying gameplay. The dialogue could had been lessened or sped up though.

8.Punch Out!!

Fantastic re-imagination of the original NES version where Little Mac must once again start at the bottom and eventually reach the top to become the world champion. Only this time, He must also defend that dear title. Featuring pretty much all of the favorite boxing opponents from the original except for the licensed character, Punch-Out!! plays similar, yet feels fresh on the Wii. The opponents get a little bit more personality because they can talk now, and some of the graphic animations are funny. 

Doc, Mac’s trainer offers subtle hints and encouragement during your career and even is able to let you practice upcoming matches with holographic imagery in exhibition mode. The music is although few, pleasant and the gameplay is straightfully true to the original. As for the difficulty, it certainly is challenging, perhaps the hardest one yet because of the title defend matches.

 

7.Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

Finale towards a splendid strong trilogy, however it remains my least liked one out of the three. Having said that though, I enjoyed traveling to the several new locations, especially Elysia, and the Command Visor was a nice touch. The involvement of the GF also let that isolement feeling finally disappear, but I can live with that. It's like it's brethren, a first person adventure worth playing. And Metroid's concept just works out great in 3D, even for the third time.

6.Super Mario Galaxy 2

A rare Nintendo sequel towards a Mario game, Galaxy 2 is no doubt more of the same, but with the addition of Yoshi, more new suits, a great soundtrack once again and even more clever level design, this is even better than the first Galaxy. Not to mention a total of 242 different stars await you here, making it one of the largest Mario games out there.

5.Sin & Punishment: Star Successor

This sequel is everything the original was, but so much more, and the Star Fox developers should take note on how to get successful once again by looking at Treasure's Wii treasure. THIS is how you do an arcade style hybrid on rails shooter with excellent bosses, satisfying longevity and brutal difficulty.

4.Super Smash Bros. Brawl

The massive success of the Super Smash Bros. franchise continues with Brawl, which has the biggest content and features yet. Third party characters, online mode, build your own stage, an optimized single player mode, ridiculous amounts of trophies and stickers and a hype train around the world before it's release and after. It's technically the best entry yet, but 64 and Melee have other reasons for remaining must plays for multiplayer matches as well.

3.The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Although Wind Waker and Twilight Princess were pretty good in their own ways, Nintendo really rebounced my thoughts about the future of Zelda with Skyward Sword, which is the first consistent game able to prove that motion control works just fine when speaking of swordplay. It's the longest Zelda game yet, the difficulty had a much needed boost seen in here and it's visually and auditory outstanding. I applaud the dungeon design, some of them were very well crafted.

2.Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn

Roughly the tenth entry, Radiant Dawn at first feels like just your average Fire Emblem game. However, the game grasped me with it's story the further you proceeded down the chapters, as level design, music, difficulty and emotional conflicts deepened. And here I was thinking that Radiant Dawn would just be another entry...the story really turned interesting in this sequel towards Path of Radiance!

1.Xenoblade

Monolith Soft's greatest achievement yet, and a very strong new IP to take inspiration from. Xenoblade(Chronicles) delivers the faith towards JRPG's so much back, that it is really hard to nitpick about anything during this genuine epic momentum. With it's flowing gameplay, several effective system features, memorable soundtrack and the most beautiful environments on the Wii, it is for me the best game available. It's so good that it can easily compare towards any classic PSX or SNES RPG.