12/04/2011

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed: Prima Official Game Guide (Prima Official Game Guides) Review

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed: Prima Official Game Guide (Prima Official Game Guides)
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Pros:
- Has good info on what/where each holocron is.
- Provides good character profiles.
- Provides short story line to better tie in The Force Unleashed with Star Wars III and IV.
Cons:
- The guide is very hard to follow when trying to proceed through a level. You get easily lost when using this guide. As you proceed down a path, you're not sure what part of the level the guide is referring to. It's very ambiguous.
- There are no detailed maps as you follow the guide, just one simple no detail map at the beginning of each section. You have to keep flipping back to the map and try to figure out where on the map you are. This gets very frustrating as you try to proceed.
- No best route and alternant route information.
- The screenshots in each section are hard to see and don't help. It's very hard to connect the screenshots to your screen. They are a complete waste of space and add no value. Detailed map inserts would have been a better use of this space.
- Although I listed Holocron locations above as a pro, the guide is frustrating to use as it guides you to them. The info and direction the guide provides is vague.
- Has errors for what buttons to hit for some force combos for the PS3. For instance, it may list X, X, X, X for a particular combo, the actual button may be square.
All and all, this is an ok guide, it helped me get some holocrons (although it was frustrating to use), but you really don't need it. The guide gives you generic advice and info on beating bosses that you could figure out yourself.


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12/03/2011

Star Wars : Return of the Jedi Review

Star Wars : Return of the Jedi
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When NPR's audio adaptation of the first Star Wars film hit the airwaves two decades ago, it was as big a landmark in the history of the Star Wars "universe" as any of the subsequent movies. By stripping the story down to the essentials of character, it proved that the appeal of Star Wars is not merely visual flash, but something more enduring, characters you care about, villains you love to hate and (that oldest of rivalries) good against evil. The writing was excellent and the cast equally good, including as it did Mark Hamill and Anthony Daniels as Luke and C3P0 respectively. When NPR produced a radio version of The Empire Strikes Back a few years later, Billy Dee Williams came on board to recreate the role of Lando Calrissian and the producers' winning streak continued.
It would be over a decade before the production team got the chance to complete the trilogy with Return of the Jedi. Sadly, just as Return of the Jedi was the weakest of the original movie trilogy, it is also the weakest of the three radio versions. That is not to say it isn't enjoyable, because it is. Rather it can't quite match the exceptional standards set by the previous two series.
Part of the problem is the casting. Although Anthony Daniels returned to play C3PO, Mark Hamill does not reprise the role of Luke Skywalker. Unfortunately the actor who took the role, Joshua Fardon, does not convey the increased maturity of the character in this part of the story. Fardon's performance has a quality of over-eagerness that seems more suited to the naive farmboy that Luke was when we first encountered him rather than the fully trained Jedi-to-be he is here. Good as the other performances are, especially Brock Peters as Darth Vader and Ann Sachs as Leia, this misguided interpretation of Luke leaves a large hole in the story.
Part of that hole can also be attributed to the writing. Like the previous adapatations, Return of the Jedi was scripted by the late Brian Daley. Daley did a good job of translating what was perhaps the most visual of the three original Star Wars films into the audio medium, but he doesn't open up the story the way the previous two series did. Whereas the radio versions of Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back took the time to show us more about the characters, Return of the Jedi is, for the most part, just what we saw on the movie screen with a handful of extra scenes thrown into the mix.
Those criticisms aside, anyone who is a fan of radio drama in general or Star Wars specifically will enjoy these programs. In the final analysis the producers understood the ways in which sound alone can fire the imagination. Using that knowledge, they have crafted yet another fine way to enjoy the magical world that George Lucas has given us.

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Grievous Attacks (Star Wars: The Clone Wars) Review

Grievous Attacks (Star Wars: The Clone Wars)
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This book takes four episodes from The Clone Wars television series, Rookies, Downfall of a Droid, Duel of the Droids, and Lair of Grievous, and puts them in one awsome book! Containing 16 pages of full-color pictures from the show, this is a great book for Star Wars fans!

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12/02/2011

The Hutt Gambit (Star Wars: The Han Solo Trilogy, Vol. 2) Review

The Hutt Gambit (Star Wars: The Han Solo Trilogy, Vol. 2)
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Ann Crispin's "Han Solo Trilogy" fills out some interesting details of the Star Wars universe. However, it lacks the edge and grittiness of some of the better Star Wars novels (particularly those by Timothy Zahn). Although Han is supposed to be a "scoundrel," you'd never know it from these books; Crispin goes out of her way to portray him as a nice, sweet guy who might enjoy an afternoon feeding ducks in the park.
"The Hutt Gambit" feels almost like a young-adult novel; the dialogue is bright and cheerful and the characters never seem to be in any serious jeopardy. If you thought Greedo shooting first was an improvement, you'll probably enjoy this.

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Commencement (Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Vol. 1) Review

Commencement (Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Vol. 1)
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I just recently started playing KOTOR again, and saw this book at my local comic shop and decided to pick it up. I got home that same evening and was going to browse through it while I waited for the game to load. Instead, I ended up reading it cover to cover and forgot all about the game! It's great! I became so totally immersed in the story that the next day, I went out and picked up issues 7-12. I recommend it even if you've never played the games.

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Thousands of years before Luke Skywalker would destroy the Death Star in that fateful battle above Yavin 4, one lone Padawan would become a fugitive hunted by his own Masters, charged with murdering every one of his fellow Jedi-in-training! From criminals hiding out in the treacherous under-city of the planet Taris, to a burly, mysterious droid recovered from the desolate landscape of a cratered moon, Padawan Zayne Carrick will find unexpected allies in his desperate race to clear his name before the unmerciful authorities enact swift retribution upon him!

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12/01/2011

Tethan Battle Adventure #3 (Star Wars: The Clone Wars) Review

Tethan Battle Adventure #3 (Star Wars: The Clone Wars)
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My elementary school boy loved the first few Star Wars "Decide Your Destiny" books; he spent countless hours curled up in his bed reading them over and over. However, this new book in the series is "featuring links to exclusive online content", which is poorly tied into the theme of the book, and has ruined the experience for him completely. Now, as soon as he's settled down and reading, he has to jump up to check a useless video before he can continue on to the next scene - Penguin books has managed to destroy the joy of reading; making kids watch internet videos is a ridiculous concept when trying to get kids to enjoy books.

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Star Wars: Rogue Planet Review

Star Wars: Rogue Planet
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It has been 1 year since the movie but 3 years have passed when this book's tale takes place.
The story and the writing are outstanding. This book reads with the same familiarity that the middle trilogy and the writings that surround those characters posses. I do not include the "Vector Prime" series, which has been jarring to say the least.
Mr. Bear is faithful to all that is appealing in this Universe of long ago, and he certainly has his own style. Unlike many other Authors he brings his talents to bear without trampling over the "feel" of Star Wars, he does not impose himself on the ongoing saga he relates it beautifully.
This adventure has to be read as it is filled with events that will need to be known before the next movie is released. Like Phantom Menace this story centers around Anakin, and expands on what we know about him from the movie. I was curious how they were going to fill a 10 year gap between the story of Episode 1 and 2, but this books demonstrates how, and even includes a slick Coda at the end that makes the reader wish there were an additional 341 pages.
A young man who we all know from the Deathstar is introduced, and other familiar characters we know from the middle trilogy appear here.
The book opens with a type of race that is every bit as good, or better than the Pod Race, Anakin's flying skills are tested with an incredible ship. And throughout it all, Obi-Wan keeps up. He knows like we do, that Anakin is not one to be competed with. "The Chosen One" and what he is and will become are beginning to show in this volume.
I hope Mr. Bear will write many more installments. I kid you not, he's that good!

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