Quantum Mechanics

Getting cover from enemy fire is easy in Quantum of Solace, it's getting out of cover that's hard.

Like movies, there are certain games that define a franchise. For James Bond that game was Goldeneye, the classic first person shooter that combined stealth and button mashing frenzy into a Walther PPK of fun. Except for the excellent Everything or Nothing at All or From Russia With Love games, the James Bonds that followed were copies or updates of Goldeneye. And in the first video game of the Daniel Craig era, the Bond formula stays intact. Goldeneye it is then.

The heart of the game is still sound, you try to sneak around buildings and bases disabling security equipment until you're spotted. Then, you pull out a personal armory and unload all kinds of weaponry on the bad guys who saw you. As an update of Goldeneye, the surroundings have gotten more detailed and the artificial intelligence of the opponents are much smarter than in the past. No more camping in a safe spot and picking off eight people in a row as they run through the same doorway, oblivious to the stack of dead bodies in front of them. No, this AI dodges your aim and thinks pretty reasonably. The environments come with exploding and breaking parts which add to the fun. A lot of natural gas canisters litter the playing field, shoot one of those and watch three or four enemies go up in smoke. Story wise, they manage to combine Casino Royale and Q of S together albeit clumsily. Sounds like Quantum of Solace is off to a good start.

My only real issue with the game is the controls. The Wii's controls for movement are extreme, even with sensitivity settings I find the foot movement and buttons sluggish. You try to run away from a timed bomb but Bond moves slow, so you push the button to sprint and suddenly you're stopping to hide behind a box instead. At the same time, the shooting and turning movement is hypersensitive and has a tendency to get stuck. Though to be fair, when it is working properly, the targeting is fairly accurate. And once I learned to minimize use of cover, jumping or running my game play improved.

There are some graphical glitches too but those are forgivable. Even with the game play issues I find I'm pretty addicted to Quantum of Solace, shoot 'em up games are a favorite of mine and the stealth system is pretty good here. Once I accepted the control issues, Quantum of Solace became a solid sequel to Goldeneye. I'm already going through the game a second time at a higher difficulty setting and enjoying my temporary licence to kill. It's fun to be a blunt instrument.

Midnight Madness - Space: 1999 Edition

I sooo wanted to fly a Space: 1999 spaceship and wear kick ass polyester zipper suits with colored sleeves and a big plastic belt. I would have been the man!

Not a lot of entertainment news out there this week, so I'm gonna discuss an adventure as lame, er, big as space! I''m talking one of my favorite TV shows of childhood that I just got on DVD, Space: 1999.

I came across the full series on DVD shortly after Christmas and could not resist picking it up. I used to spend Sundays mid afternoon happily catching the exploits of Commander Koenig and crew of Moonbase Alpha. I had toys (including a giant Eagle spaceship with dolls and a flying Eagle that could pick up nuclear cannisters), models and a treasured Comlink replica my late Grandpa made out of a block of wood.

Watching the TV show now, it's amazing how much of the cheese factor I missed seeing it through the eyes of a kid. The stories defy logic or common sense, the aliens are usually incorporeal spirits who speak in stuck up British echo chambers and as my wife has noted, Commander Koenig makes the worst command decisions possible. Despite this, I'm having a blast revisiting this classic show and enjoy the campiness (my poor parents, they probably watched me devote hours of time to this program and thought it sucked). Because let's face it, the future is meant to be experienced backed by a Eurodisco soundtrack.

For the millions who missed this show when it was on, Space: 1999 is set in the future where a manned base on the Moon has a nuclear accident resulting in the Moon being ripped out of orbit. It then hurtles through space on its momentum encountering a plethora of hostile alien life. It's antiquated vision of the future is fascinating and while I can't recommend this for everyone, if you love 70's Sci Fi chesse this show is a must.

Are the Terrible Towels still there? - Styx will be performing at a NFL Championship game soon, it seems the Pittsburgh Steelers have taken to "Renegade". The last time I followed football Terry Bradshaw was QB, still it's great to see them get more exposure with a great jam.

Whoa Ooh Whoa Oh - American Idol starts up on January 13th, let the mediocre talent search begin! I love me some American Idol.

Kelly Clarkson! - Cover art for her new disc is all over the web, can she dominate again?

When The Levee Breaks - Sounds like the Led Zep minus Robert Plant reunion has been called off. I'm pretty tolerant of lead singer switcheroos, though in this case I'm glad to see it fail without Plant. At this point in their career, it's not worth doing without him.

Ron Asheton - Stooges guitarist Ron Asheton passed away at age 60. I liked the Stooges, a sad passing.

If You're Into It - Flight of the Conchords returns on January 18th! Yes!

More Space: 1999 - To close here's two clips from You Tube that summarize the series while playing that wicked awesome Eurodisco.

Space: 1999

Ice Ice Baby

About a month ago I picked up the new AC/DC album Black Ice from Wal Mart and have spent some time listening to it. There has been a lot of hype leading up to Ice, there's been rumors for a few years that a new album was coming. Then there was a lot of talk about this being their swan song, one last blast with an album and tour followed by retirement. Of course, the exclusive distribution courtesy of Wal Mart was the next subject. Meanwhile, band's came out of the woodwork to emulate the Aussie rocker's trademark sound-particularly Airbourne. Sometimes I hear Airbourne and I think it's AC/DC until the chorus hits and I realize I don't remember the tune that well. That's not necessarily a knock on Airbourne, they do the AC/DC well and acted as a herald for hard rocker's true comeback.

I debated on covering this disc just because I wasn't sure if there was a point. Every AC/DC album sounds the same as the last, more or less. At this point in their career, you either like what they do or you don't. It's not about originality here, it's about execution. Do the songs fire you up and stick in your head like dark beer or leave you flat? Well, I'll get to that in a moment.

Most of my life I was a casual fan of AC/DC. The first time I saw their emblem was when the loser across the street graffitied the water meter on my house with their logo, Van Halen's logo and the phrase "I'm a rootin tootin cowboy". The next exposure was when the Emilio Estevez movie Maximum Overdrive came out and had a soundtrack by AC/DC. I copied that tape off a friend and played it every once in a while, diggin' on jams like Who Made Who and Shake Your Foundations. Fast forward to 2000, my wife came home with the CD Stiff Upper Lip. We went to see them in concert and it was the best show I've ever seen from any band ever. I've seen a lot of bands, but I've never seen anyone rock that hard. After that, I was a fan.

That was nine years ago, almost a decade ago. After my birthday, I went out and picked up Black Ice for a long awaited listen. My impressions? It's still AC/DC. Screechy raspy vocals, throbbing bass, rock steady snare drum and vicious guitar assault. The execution of their classic formula is fairly strong, the performance doesn't lag or show any age. About half of the songs are memorable, particularly the thunderous Big Jack, the slick Wheels or the WWE hyped Spoilin' For A Fight. There's more variety in the grooves than the prior disc Stiff Upper Lip, songs move at different speeds and are aided by focusing on stronger choruses. My only criticism is that to me AC/DC is at their best with just the ten best songs on each album, the quality of their songwriting seems to suffer past that point.

Black Ice is a good dose of brutal, sleazy Hard Rock served up as only AC/DC truly can. It overstays its welcome a little, but by the end of the disc I was ready to start over at track 1 again. It's not the best AC/DC album, I'd rank it in the top half or so in their storied career. AC/DC preaches to the converted here and when they're on they make a good case for rock and roll salvation.