Hey guys,


I've been attempting to set up some interviews with some of our favorite celebrities! I'll give you a hint as to who -- many of us are big Joss Whedon fans. So, a few from his neck of the woods... maybe. We'll see if I manage to get any favorable responses! I sure hope so!

-Kris

Harry Potter is a series for children.

Batman has had a long history of having terrible video game adaptations. Almost all of them have felt unpolished, unprofessional, and simply broken. Development studio Rocksteady thought they'd try to change all that. Arkham Asylum takes place on the titular island home of Gotham's most deranged criminals. A few weeks ago, the Joker (voiced by Mark Hamill -- yes, Luke Skywalker) broke out and Batman was lucky enough to catch him. Or was he? It seemed to Batman that the Joker let himself be caught, so the Dark Knight followed the police and Joker into the asylum.

 Lo and behold, the Joker escapes his captures and traps Batman in the asylum. It seems that he's been planning this reverse break in for some time, having set fire to Blackgate Prison to get all of his lackeys transferred to Arkham. It's going to be the longest night of Batman's life as he fights through a significant portion of the Rogue's Gallery from the Batman canon. Present are Bane, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, and of course the Joker, just to name a few.

Arkham Asylum looks great. The graphics are dark and gritty, with the art direction heavily borrowing from the comic of the same name; which is a great thing. Everything is very mature, people you know and care for die. Batman's outfit even takes damage of the course of the game; a small but nice touch. During the important cut scenes most of the characters are animated well with more or less correct lip syncing. But through the rest of the game, the animation of the NPC's is rigid and unnatural. Worse, the lip syncing is deplorable. However, these are relatively small gripes in the measure of the game.

It plays amazing. This is what it feels like to truly play as Batman. The game is action oriented -- when facing unarmed guards. If you have a room with more than one person with a gun (a room with one armed guard is rare - most have 7+) you will not live through it if you try to go head to head. You have to used Batman's ninja abilities to stealthily take out the enemies in the room.

This feels amazing for several reasons. Let's say I'm hiding in the rafters of a room and an enemy walks below me, I can drop down grab him and shoot back up into the shadows. He'll scream and the rest of the enemies will rush to where they heard the sound. Finding him hanging upside down and unconscious, the guards start freaking out. They get nervous and sloppy. Yea, that's right, you can actually scare the enemies. It's awesome. There are all sorts of ways to take out guards quietly: silent take downs from behind, hitting them with explosive gel, pulling them over a railing with your grapnel gun, and many more.  All of it is wonderfully done and very very fun to play.

Now, if you have a room of unarmed cronies, things are much more straight forward. You only use 4 buttons while fighting. One for attack, counter, jump, and stun. That doesn't sound like much and it isn't. But that doesn't in any way mean its a bad thing. The only way I can explain how cool the fighting is is to show you. Keep in mind, that you're only using 4 buttons here. The game really is this dynamic.



Besides the combat, the Riddler has hidden 240 items around the island. Some are riddles you must solve, some are trophies, some are patient interview tapes, among other things. It will take a good amount of time to find them all; but you'll want to. The game's areas are varied enough and large enough to warrant exploration and the Riddler trophies are a great way to do so.

The last thing I'll talk about in this game is the voice acting. If you've ever watched Batman: The Animated Series (a highly acclaimed series) you'll know Kevin Conroy as Batman, Mark Hamill as the Joker (the longest running actor behind the face paint), and Arleen Sorkin as Harley Quinn. Many other original cast members from the cartoon return to reprise their roles as well. Simply put, this game has the absolute best voice acting in any game; period. It's remarkable and a joy to listen to. The dialogue from the Joker is well worth the purchase of this game. Every single line of dialogue is spoken; which is rare.

Overall, this game has been a wonderful joy to play. The gameplay is addicting and fun, the voices are amazing, and it truly feels great to play as the Dark Knight and scare the crap out of the bad guys. I highly recommend this game. I have a feeling it'll be a contender for game of the year with several publications. Thank you Rocksteady for finally giving Batman the game he deserved.

Overall Score
Graphics: 8.5 - Great environmental visuals. Sometimes rigid character animation.
Gameplay: 9.5 - Feels great to play as Batman! Scare those bad guys!
Audio: 10 - Amazing voice cast and moody music. Worth the purchase alone.
Replay Value: 8 - Enough Riddler trophies to bring you back for more. Plus 16 challenge maps.

Total Score: 9


-Kris

Quentin Tarantino and I have a love/hate relationship. The first movie of his I saw was Kill Bill on DVD. Until then, I had only passing knowledge of his name. I was unaware of his particular style, his friendship and frequent collaboration with Robert Rodriguez, or his propensity for extreme violence. I went in to Kill Bill knowing none of that and only really expecting some fantastical gore sequences.

Since then, I’ve had the opportunity to experience more films from Tarantino. I loved Kill Bill 1 and 2, was not a big fan of Death Proof, and was thoroughly confused by the popularity of Pulp Fiction. I haven’t seen Reservoir Dogs. I have, however, come to understand and appreciate his slice of film making individuality. No one can make hundreds of severed limbs as fun as he can.

I went in to Inglorious Basterds not really knowing what to expect. I figured it would be split up into his trademark chapters (it is), there would be copious amounts of bloody violence (not as much as I expected), and I figured I would at least like it.

I’m sorry Tarantino for more poor expectations.

This film rose above any and all of these expectations. I absolutely loved this film. I’ll discuss it as a movie first. As a movie, some might find Tarantino’s like of long dialogue filled scenes a tad dull. It certainly isn’t as fast paced as Transformers and it certainly doesn’t take a whole lot of thought storyline wise. But, even as a movie, I figure you’ll be clapping by the end. If not for the movie itself, then at least for the movies delicious twisting of history. Two words: Swiss cheese.

As a film, this truly sores. There are 5 chapters, each around 20-30 minutes long. They play as one-acts with very little scene changes and only the setting characters. (For example, Brad Pitt is only in 3 of the chapters.) Each chapter has its own narrative storyline while quietly advancing the overall plot. Chapter 5 really ties everything together in one neat bloody little package.

Chapter 1 is quite possibly one of my favorite scenes committed to film in the last decade. Tarantino truly excels at the written word, creating vast amounts of suspense and terror in what were basically kind words. Christoph Waltz (Col. Hans Landa, a Nazi SS Officer) steals every scene he’s in (when he’s not playing off Brad Pitt). He’s an Austrian born actor that wonderfully flows through three languages in this film effortlessly. I have a feeling we will be seeing much more of him (and a best supporting Oscar nom).

Hans Landa comes to the farm of a French diary farmer and his three daughters. The scene unfolds with Landa quizzing the farmer about the known locations of a certain Jewish family that had lived nearby before the war. Hans Landa never makes a single mean or striking statement and yet, through Tarantino’s expertly written dialogue, the sense of shear terror and suspense are palpable.

Chapter 2 introduces us to the titular Basterds; a small but merry band of Jewish boys walking the Nazi occupied country side killing and scalping them. They do this to strike fear into the hearts of the Nazi’s. And it works. The scene plays out introducing us to their ways of interrogation, beating, and finally scalping of the Nazi’s. Many expected this to be the center of the movie. I must say, I would have loved to have seen more of these characters and their story.

Every single line of dialogue (no exaggeration) out of Brad Pitt’s mouth is gold. Just wait until you hear “Bon-Jair-No.” Other notable performances from the underused Basterds are Sylar from Heroes – wait. I mean Eli Roth (seriously, look him up on imdb, he looks just like Sylar), director of the Hostel movies and Til Schweiger as the stoic and fearsome German officer turned Nazi killer Hugo Stiglitz.

Several German officers play drunken games to congratulate their friend.

I won’t spoil the rest of the movie for you (if you don’t know the end PLEASE do not look it up before seeing this movie). It’s amazing to think that Tarantino wrote, directed, edited, and released this movie in his promised 10 month time span. To release something that fast and do it amazingly well is a testament to his talent.

This is one of my favorite films of the year. I highly recommend it as a show of what is capable in Hollywood when one throws out Hollywood norms. It’s not an easy movie to sit through, nor is it anything resembling normal. But that’s Tarantino. Go see this film.

Good day, and Bon-Jair-No.

This is a useful section to read about the site and to learn about each reviewer so that you know where they are coming from in their reviews.

About the name.

Nerd Party Extreme is actually a phrase that I used when my friend and I would be really hyper at the amusement park Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio. We would spend 4 or 5 days at the park getting there around 8 A.M. and staying there until after closing at 11 P.M. The only way we could accomplish this for days in a row was taking unhealthy amounts of stay-awake pills.

Suffice it to say, we were usually really hyper - thus the extreme. I named a few of my Cedar Point videos after the phrase and liked it a lot. So, it stuck. Since then, it has come to symbolize how I feel about being a nerd. When I decided I'd like to make a site reviewing movies and such, I figured this would be the best name to encompass what I'd like to accomplish. Oh, and NPX sounds cool.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

About Kris

I've been a fan of movies my entire life. It was only about 5 years ago that I really became a fan of film and a self proclaimed movie nerd. Because it was only 5 years ago, I have been able to witness a lot of histories greatest movies in a short time span. However, there are still many I've yet to see.

How I review: I generally like almost any movie on the planet. I'm a fan of movies first, a fan of film second. Here's how I see it. A movie fan can see any movie and appreciate it for the entertainment value and escapism that it offers (the original purpose of movies). A film fan needs to see greater importance behind a work. Generally, a film fan greatly prefers Oscar type movies to summer blockbusters. Almost all movie reviews are written from a film critics perspective; which is why I started this site.

For example: Transformers and Wolverine received relatively poor reviews from critics because they didn't offer anything in the way of what many consider Oscar fair. To me, I was able to thoroughly enjoy both and appreciate them for what they were: big loud obnoxious stupid summer fun. They didn't have a point beyond being a spectacle.

So, that's how I'll review on this site. I'll give you a movie fans review and a film fans review. (I consider myself both.)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

More information will be provided as further staff come on board!

I'm very excited to get this party started! Here at NPX, we will be providing reviews on all sorts of media outlets. Our primary focuses will be on movies (both new and old; we take requests), video games, and TV shows. As we add staff to the site, expect more reviews in a more varied range of outlets. Thanks for reading and I look forward to posting our first reviews!

-Kris