Batman - Hush (Jeph Loeb & Jim Lee)

One of my frens was championing this one. I fail to see what's so special. Nice art by Lee aside, this is the third time running for Loeb to try his whodunnit? plot after The Long Halloween and Dark Victory. And it's running a bit thin. The Bats and Catwoman romance is a bit unbelievable. There are holes in the story as big as the ozone gap - how did the Huntress find Catwoman?, why is it that Bats is omnipresent, as it's a first-person perspective tale yet you can see "Hush" plotting....? I'm underwhelmed.

The Death of Superman - various

Rather misleading gimmick in its advertising - Best-selling graphic novel of all time? I really, really doubt that. Again nothing that special, although with the pounding of Superman and the Dan Jurgens-era JLA by Doomsday will leave any reader exhausted. Art is mediocre, so is the story.....

Green Lantern/Green Arrow - Vol. 2 (Denny O'Neil & Neal Adams)

I bought the first volume at 2 quid in the UK. Saw Vol. 2 selling at 9 quid and didn't buy it. But had fond memories of the first volume so much I finally got this. It's great, best of the bunch I bought. O'Neil and Adams were the first to bring DC Comics into a new era, and this run was the second series to bring "relevance" into comics, after Spiderman's controversial "drugs" issue which forewent the Comics Code Authority's approval. The 60s problems are siphoned through the eyes of superheroes - drugs (GA's sidekick has got a nasty heroin habit), race (the third GL sub is a black), environment, the economy and crime.

Coupla more movies I jus saw:-

OneChambara

Based on the best-selling PS2 game, this is just Resident Evil with swords. I was expecting a lot of cheese from this one, but instead of premium Camembert, you get stinky old Bleu. Not much unintentional hilarity. The emotional sequences are so cliched you'd think you saw this movie before. Not much of the weird Japanese atmosphere here and the make-up stinks. You can see two layers of skin near the eyes. Y don't you just paint them blue or green? That's at least funny. Saving grace is the amount of bare flesh - Etoguri Oru fits a skimpy bikini like she was meant to by God. Some tits as well.

Sexy Beast

Got this on the mistaken assumption that it was written by Alan Moore. But it ain't bad.... Pretty much a love story with a sociopath interjecting, this is a pretty good can do lar Brit Indie thriller. Ben Kingsley puts in a fine turn as the maniac gangster Don Logan. Not much crime action. Some fine dream sequences with a hairy beast. Can't understand the "18" rating - there are a pair of old tits and some blood and some swearing. I mean "9 days" was rated "18" and that was a fuckfest.

Went to Pudu Plaza and it was PS2 games Mecca heaven. Old games are there and only going for RM4.00 (about USD1).

More games I got:-

Need for Speed : Undercover - Brilliant. Different types of racing. Love the "speeding up for the camera" bits.

Viet Cong : Purple Haze - Same first person war shooter as Call of Duty or Medal of Honor. The limbs look distorted though.

Grand Theft Auto : San Andreas - Difficult learning curve. Can live without the "yo! mofugga" - ness. Bully - GTA lite. Easy gameplay to suit the minors it was intended for. Nothing subversive here although you can beat up adults.

Spider Man : Web of Shadows - Disappointed as it's not a free roaming environment. 2D side scrolling. Highly playable and addictive, though.

Spider Man : Friend or Foe - Still no free-roaming with web-spinning. A bit samey to Marvel Ultimate Alliance.

Ultimate Spider Man - Yay! Free roaming. And cell-shaded as well.

Spider-Man 3 - More free roaming. But the combat is plasticky.

Fantastic Four - Good movie licence. More punching around.

FF : Rise of the Silver Surfer - Yet another Ultimate Alliance rip-off.

Shibinido : Way of the Ninja - A bit too much like Tenchu although the graphics and handling is much better.

Call of Duty : World at War - Now that's what I'm talking about. Enhanced graphics and fighting makes this an immersive war experience.

Medal of Honor : Frontline - Pretty ok. Lack of enough soldiers on the Normandy beachhead makes it feel a bit sparse.

WWII : Battle over Britain - Third person dogfight game. Dodgy controls.

Legend of Spyro : Dawn of the Dragon - Expected a cartoony game but got a rather excellent fight game with eye candy visuals.

Prince of Persia : Two Thrones - Played Sands of Tme on the PC and this is much of the same.

Star Wars : The Force Unleashed - Wahay! I am Darth Vader.

Star Wars : Clone Wars - Vehicular combat thingie. Reminds me of the Phantom Menace arcade game although that was purely racing.

Driver : Parallel Lines - Lacks the deft precision driving required in the very first game. Disappointed it's a somewhat GTA clone.

Need for Speed : Hot Pursuit 2 - Fail to see y u like this so much. Nice being a cop and all but Undercover got this all beat.

Burnout : Revenge - Can slam into same lane traffic.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour Golf 2003 (mistook it for 2008) - Nice hands-on backswing and stroke.

Fight Night Round 3 - Innovative punching system which takes some time to get used to.

Moto GP 2008 - Realistic enough bike racing.

Nitro bike - Stunt racing thingie.

Gradius V - I have always liked two series of side-scrolling shooters for ages - R-Type and this one. Doesn't disappoint.

Splinter Cell : Chaos Theory - Pretty okay-ish. Lacks some of the features of Double Agent.

Splinter Cell : Pandora Tomorrow - earlier incarnation with most features lacking. But still a kick-ass experience.

Metal Gear Solid 3 : Subsistence - 3D engine for the same game. Disc 2 has the early MSX proto-games which are quite fun actually.

Soul Calibur 3 - Wow! Excellente. Swordfighting has never been this much fun. Got maybe one or two I forgot.

I only got Midnight Club 3 : DUB Edition Remix. It's pretty okay. A fancier Test Drive Unlimited with customisation brought from the Need for Speed series. I can't activate the Nitrous Oxide, though. No idea y. The weight transfer thingie is nice. My copy has the Tokyo city roads.

Others I got :- Rainbow Six : Lockdown - Boring. I was smitten by the first game in the series which was more strategic, as you can switch between four team members. This one is just a first person shooter with some commands. Best bit is that you can shoot hinges and locks to make a door collapse.

Need for Speed : Most Wanted - Pretty good graphics. Also has police chases, which were in Hot Pursuit, I suppose. Only gripe - the video sequences with real actors looks a bit blurry.

Jackass : The Game - This one is quite fun actually. Best bit is the "Dance Dance Revolution" rip-off with the Jackass member in the supermarket in only his underwear.

(Based on Ricky's recs on the message board)

They don't have Hot Pursuit 2. I got Underground 2 and Most Wanted. They're both quite nice.

I think HP2 is a bit old for them to stock. I also got Test Drive Unlimited - pretty easy as well, and plays like a goody two shoes version of Grand Theft Auto. I got Burnout : Dominator but it doesn't work.

Will look for Chaos Theory.

Will look for Smuggler's Run.

I got Splinter Cell : Double Agent and loved it. It's a far more flexible system than MGS3. The initial learning curve is hard but once you get used to it, it is pretty intuitive. Managed to complete the first mission. No sign of Chaos Theory anywhere though. Other games I got:-

Burnout 3 : Takedown - Excellent, even if the alternating crashing sub-games and the main racing games tend to be quite easy. Frenetic, though. And getting gold in all the crashing games is hard.

Need for Speed : Prostreet - Not very good graphics. Should have gotten Hot Pursuit, instead.

Blood Will Tell : Ozamu Tenka's Dororo - Got this cos I liked the movie. Difficult first boss.

Spyhunter : Nowhere to Run - Fairly easy game. The non-racing/shooting sections are a bit boring.

Killswitch - Quite good 3rd person shoot-'em up.

Quantum of Solace - Pretty average game. Got fed-up with the insanely difficult "shoot the tires" section.

Ace Combat 5 : The Unsung War - Nice graphics complement an arcade-ish flight simulation.

X :The Official Game - Argghhh! Bad bugs ruins what could be a good licence.

Two games I forgot to mention last time :-

From Russia With Love - Quite good. Varied gameplay.

Tenchu : Wrath of Heaven - Liked the PSOne predecessor. Managed to fix the bad camera angles.

More PS2 games I got:-

Final Fantasy X (pretty shitty at Blitzball but the stationary fighting is closer to VIII, I didn't like XII's Parasite Eve-ish mobile fighting)

The Sims 2 (addictive initially but it's just pooping, eating and showering and getting to work on time)

The Sims 2 : Castaway (a bit more to do)

Twisted Metal : Head On and Black (liked the PSOne eponymous games and this is quite fun as well)

Justice League : Heroes (triples in difficulty over a coupla levels)

Ultimate Marvel Alliance (liked the X-Men one on the PC, more of the same overheard fighting)

Gran Turismo 3 : A-Spec (liked 4 so much I got its earlier cousin and.... the graphics don't differ that much)

World Super Police (driving and shooting with crummy pictures)

Alone in the Dark (got stuck after a few minutes)

Silent Hill : Origins (creepy and bloody as always, love this)

Call of Duty 3 (about the same as Medal of Honour : Vanguard albeit a bit easier)

Grand Theft Auto : Vice City Stories (WTF? It's a darkie anti-hero, I thought it was Tony again)

Ratchet and Clank : Size Matters (still have a fondness for cartoonish games)

Smash Court Tennis 2 (nice! the physics are a lot better than Pete Sampras : Extreme Tennis on the PSOne)