I'm still alive! Transformers 3 review, Bioware TV and Comic Con!

Can't believe its been two weeks since I last posted! I've just been so busy that the time has gone too fast!

At least that means that Auto Assembly is now less than three weeks away! :-)

Speaking of Transformers, I went and saw Transformers: Dark Of The Moon last weekend, in 3D no less. I didn't get a headache from the 3D for once, although my brain did feel a bit weird when I took the glasses off after!

So... a quick review for those who haven't seen it... SPOILER ALERT - if you don't want to know any more about the movie STOP READING NOW!!

Ok so...

I'm going to divide this into good and bad points. I like to finish things on a positive note, so I'll start with the bad points first!

The BAD points:

The character of Shockwave, for all the billing he got, is hardly in the movie. He has a very brief appearance at the start and then reappears during the big battle towards the end. He looks similar to his G1 incarnation (well he has the single eye) but that's where the similarities end. He doesn't speak (well, nothing intelligible anyway), instead he just growls a lot. This is a disappointment as G1 Shockwave was a super-intelligent being of cold logic. Here, he's just a growling badass that commands a robotic snake thing and smashes stuff.

The character of Wheeljack: what the..? That was my initial reaction. G1 Wheeljack is cool - a scientist that creates awesome stuff. Dark Of The Moon Wheeljack looks like a guy doing Transformers cosplay... badly! While I think about it... what the hell is the deal with the fibre optic hair in this movie? I like most of the robot deisgns in DOTM but Wheeljack is just a fail!

The screaming: The first 40-odd minutes of the movie seems to have lots of people screaming. Sam's screaming, then some Japanese guy is screaming, scream, scream, scream! Luckily, this doesn't happen throughout the whoel movie (well, not in as irritating a manner as at the start).

Now... the GOOD points!

Story elements from the G1 cartoon: there's elements of Megatron's Master Plan and The Ultimate Doom in this movie! First, the bit with the Autobots leaving on a spaceship is very similar to their exile in the formerly mentioned episode. The bit with pulling Cybertron through the Space Bridge is straight from the latterly mentioned ep. It's cool to see these elements in live action!

Lazerbeak: my God - what a creepy bastard this character is! The scenes where he appears and people end up 'committing suicide' are actually quite disturbing and certainly take things in a darker direction.

Sentinel Prime: a very cool character! Ok, so his motivation for changing sides isn't entirely convincing but he's voiced by the great Leonard Nimoy (Galvatron from the G1 animated movie!) and he's a badass! His vehicle mode is cool (a fire truck) and there's a good reference to Spock in Star Trek II in one scene too.

Overall, this movie is in no danger of winning an Oscar - what you expect is pretty much what you get - giant robots smacking the crap out of eachother for a couple of hours. The humour doesn't invade the story quite so much as the previous instalments and it's entertaining enough. As TransFan myself, there's a few niggles but I enjoyed watching this and will be buying it on Blu Ray in November.

The 3D worked well and added to the enjoyment of the movie. Oh - the last thing I will just add is the cavalier way in which characters are killed in this movie. Poor Ironhide in particular!

I'm hoping that the next director for Transformers 4 will perhaps concentrate a little more on the characters and treat them a little bit better instead of just killing them off in such a throwaway manner!

So, Transformers 3 is a fun movie but don't expect anything too deep... I'm not sure why you would - but don't!

So, what am I doing now? Well, while I'm typing this, I'm watching Bioware TV. What's that? It's a live stream from Bioware at the San Diego Comic Con. Right now, there's a panel discussing Mass Effect and Dragon Age stuff. Sounding very cool!

I definitely want to go to San Diego Comic Con one day. For now though, I shall probably be going to the London Comic Con!

Mid-week update

Yikes! What a busy week! I'll be glad for the weekend so I can have a rest!

I plan to play the latest Mass Effect 2 DLC this weekend too... I'm so behind with it, bought it weeks ago but Dragon Age II has consumed most of (admittedly not abundant) gaming time. I'm determined to finish it in time for the release of Skyrim... oh and Gears Of War 3... so many great games, just no flipping time! lol

Must admit I'm probably more of an RPG and racing game kind of guy (eek - just realised I have to add F1 2011 to that list!).

Mass Effect 2 is quite possibly my favoruite game of all time - it really was like playing a movie and I absolutely loved every moment of it. The DLC (that I've played) has all been great too! So yeah, drooling at the trailers for Mass Effect 3 and will quite possibly have to take a week off when it's released next year too.

Actually, I may have to for Skyrim in November too. Oblivion was my fave game until Mass Effect 2 came along... it's just so big (the game) and you could pick up just about everything! I never did finish all the quests - I actually started coming up with my own, such as rob every house and sell all the loot, explore just about everywhere I could... for me, it's the nearest I've come to actually finding myself playing something you really could get lost in for hours. It wasn't without it's flaws of course: the repetitive voices for different characters did reduce the illusion of being in another world but still.... great fun and one of the best RPGs I've played. I can't wait to see what they do with Skyrim... loved the trailers for that and really loved the more epic version of the theme!

I really better get on and finish Dragon Age II...!