WinnipegFats

Aliens: A trillion stars. Aliens is a treasure. Is it better than Alien? Nobody can know.

Reviews on progressives is sort of useless from a "this episode was good this one was bad" perspective. However, as has already been said, discussion of a series as it progresses can be interesting. LOST is a good example of this.

The traditional review would make more sense for either long-running progressives like say, Supernatural or X-Files, where a new viewer is not necessarily best served starting at the pilot, and the meta story is sometimes not addressed at all in some episodes that can be effectively used as an introduction. Or, as was said before, anything where there is no meta-story, like a sitcom, where being able to learn the best season or best episodes becomes valuable.

The inverse of that would be a review system that can be used to create a 'skip list', where a set of episodes are deemed a combination of poor/unnecessary and can be safely skipped without diminishing the series' experience. I believe Danielle Riendeau has one of those floating around for FarScape.

So short answer; I think any good review is valuable. TV show episodes are no exception. The key is they need to be written in such a way as to help both fans and newcomers to their respective series.

Winnipeg, MB, Canada

Blue Ruin 4/5

Great revenge story and well told. The main character isn't some driven psychopath that's just been given a convenient reason to go on a kill-crazy rampage. The story is similarly complex. Not in its twists and turns, but just that it's not totally cut and dry good vs evil.

@lv4monk: I love Goon. I had to watch it twice because the first time I was just getting taken out of the movie constantly recognizing parts of Winnipeg through the whole thing.

Man I had a double of Jameson last night that I fell in love with.

But I love my girly-drinks, too. Like give me fruity slush with rum or vodka in it any damn time.

So Ubisoft has come out and shown us a bit of the Splinter Cell: Blacklist Campaign. It is predictably moving in the direction established in Conviction; mark-and-execute is back, stealth seems to be available but totally optional and functionally scaled back to make room for the "Sam Fisher is a slaughterhouse with legs" mechanics. I'm sure there will be a totally passable story, and while Michael Ironside will be missed, and missed sorely, I've no doubt the single player experience will hit all the notes that we should expect from the 6th entry in a series that has followed a well-telegraphed arc.

But fuck all that.

The big news about Blacklist is the return of Spies vs. Mercs multiplayer. Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory had for my money the best multiplayer experience basically ever. From the concept to the gameplay to the level design, it was pitch-perfect. When Double Agent was released I was excited to see a new coat of paint on the old Spies vs Mercs, but in the end, the 3 vs 3 concept, the gadget changes on both sides and the level designs didn't recapture the magic introduced in Pandora Tomorrow and perfected in Chaos Theory.

Now Blacklist has stated its intention to bring back Spies vs. Mercs, but with no information beyond that it exists. This is the information I need. I pray for a return to the 2 v 2 Spies vs. Mercs and secretly hope for a couple classic maps to be rereleased (Aquarius, Club House). Will I get satisfaction, and another kick at the Splinter Cell Multiplayer can? We'll find out soon enough. But in the meantime, I've learned everything I care to learn about the single player experience, bring on the multiplayer news!

I thought Conviction was fine. It told its story competently and the gameplay accomplished what it set out to do.

I can't, however, say I liked any Splinter Cell game until it includes a multiplayer mode that is deserving of comparison to Chaos Theory's. Why we haven't been given another game like that is completely baffling to me. Go ahead and make a single player campaign where Sam Fisher has to shop for groceries and new slacks for 17 hours, as long as it includes the old 2v2 Spies vs Mercs multiplayer and some recreation of the Aquarius map I will buy it and give it 5/5 on every web site that will allow me to.

I'd say Legion because he was the first character with a truly unique view. I looked forward to every new conversation with him. Especially after having fought the geth almost exclusively in ME1, to hear their side of it was fascinating, and wonderfully voice acted.

Notch's announcement of the new 0x10^c (I'm pushing for the proper notation here) really doesn't tell us anything. That doesn't stop me from colouring in his very vague skeleton for a game with my own expectations, and almost all those expectations are coloured in by my (extremely fond) memories of Toys for Bob and Accolade's Star Control II.

With Firaxis granting wish #3 with their re-imagining of the original X-COM, 0x10^c is my current best hope for granting wish #2; more Star Control in some form. Hell, the mako landings in Mass Effect are one of the two main reasons I was drawn to that franchise in the first place. (The other being the Vangelis-inspired soundtrack. Can I get a hell ya?)

This is totally conjecture and pie-in-the-sky dreaming, but hot DAMN would that be exciting if I could get some of that original 1992 lovin' back in some form. It's not going to take much of that to get my money, Notch. I hope you're listening.

I'm sure everyone else has their own images that this announcement conjures up. I'd be very curious to know what they are.

PS Wish #1 is for, as it always is, more wishes. Failing that it's for OliviaWilde.