i finally purchased monkey island 4(escape) in november last year. loved it . then i got grim fandango in april this year and completed it and just completed curse of monkey island last week.At first I coudnt find monkey island 1 and 2 anywhere. I found them though but they dont have any music or voice acting ,so i assumed it was not the complete version(it was only 9mb) so i deleted it and am looking for the the enhanced cd versions .No luck yet.Its frustrating because i heard that they are the best.I want maniac mansion too.

after much thought i think curse is the best. It had a really beautiful and engaging artsyle(handdrawn?) and it was the only point and click of the 3.I was so frustrated playing grim fandango because of the horrible inventory system.Looking at one object one at a time made puzzles overly infuriating and frustrating.Sure unlike the monkey games it doesnt involve combining objects but it was really testing my patience.Moving in Mi4 and grim was pretty bad too.

At least MI 4 let you scroll through your items quickly in a translucent inventory.I also hated how lack of point and click spoilt MI4 and grim. I mean in grim you had to notice if Manny's head looked down at the item or you'd miss it. I wasted time because of overlooking items that way.

The most infuriating moment is when you reach that railways station and you have to help the big orange dude(glottis?) and the area was so small and knew i was so close to cracking it but ended up spending an hour because the toaster and cupholder were so close together( your head has to face the cup holder). Had it been point and click i would have finished it in a jiffy.I had to use a walkthrough for that.pathetic.

I think the way of interacting with characters and objects was the best in the MI3 with the coin thing. use-look-eat/talk. So well thought out. I played that game without overlooking items because of that.

But between MI3's ship insult swordfighting and MI4's monkey kombat i think its hard to choose. Monkey combat was waaaay harder than insult swordfighting(but insult swordfigting was funnier). I had to make notes after each mnkey move and finally masterd it. Very complicated.took 3 full pages of notes to crack it. Each new save game the sequence changes so you coudnt use a walkthrough for it.

One more thing.towards the end of grim fandango you had to pick a ice bucket or somthing from a stage top after putting a skeleton hand in it . That was the only time in the entire game you HAD to use the "pick-up" button. I spent hours trying to complete that part. then i see a walkthrough and it says you have to use the specially assigned pick up key......which i never needed to use in the entire game!!!

But the fake ending in MI3 was hilarious.

Grim fandango had a more satisfying and engaging story from start to finish though.It would make a very good animated movie(pixar?).

If they ever do make another MI game or adventure game lucas arts should use the MI3 coin system and ditch the weird movment and ditch the "head looks down at item and press I or p etc etc" system.

So over all MI3 is the best in humour,look/artsyle and inventory system.It really puts the other 2 to shame. It was so engaging,funny and pretty at the same time.Plus solving puzzles was so much easier beacuse all your items were shown in the same chest ,so figuring how to combine what with what was alot easier. I doubt i ever got frustrated and all the puzzles were great..travelling from one place to another also was done in a more fluid way.

Grim fandango best and most satisfying story/plot but had alot of gamplay issues.In the second year travelling up and down lifts to your hotel,the casino, the morgue,restaurant etc etc was really dull,long and unnessarily tiring.But it had some great puzzles too(alot of weird and unsatisfying ones as well). In MI3 you could just put the arrow at the location and reach there immediately with a double click..MI4 really good but not as good as MI3. I dont know why so many people here seem to hate it or consider it bad. I had alot of fun with it but again, beautiful handdrawn 2d > comparitively unatractive 3d.

The irony is how much better Mi3 is in almost all aspects even though it came out much before the other 2. Heres to hoping i can find the proper version of fullthrottle,maniac mansion and the first 2 monkey island games.

ok ,i recently got myself the hl anthology. After completing half life 1 completely and playing upto the chapter "The package" in opposing force .....i have to say im having alot more fun playing it than hl1.

Now thats not to say i didnt enjoy hl. It was fantastic. Especially upto questionable ethics. Surface tension was good, but not as great as i had heard about it. From lambda core onwards i really started disliking the game. Espcecially Interloper.wow that level got on my nerves.horrible.Those flying creatures that open their head to fire golden orbs.......ughh. That horrible noise made me mute the game for that level. Xen is self explanatory. Though nihalinth and the ending were pretty enjoyable. Was the game rushed.... is that the reason why the last few levels felt so .....unsatisfying? The chapters upto residue processing(and to some extent questionable ethics.....i really loved using the console to blow up the gates and the gargantua) were pure gold.brilliant.

But the last levels really made me forget about all the good.So after completing it i played oppsing force and am loving it!!! Its consistently good.i love the huge labs. You meet fellow soldiers more often.So many cooler and scarier aliens(especially the huge dudes that dwell in darkness.dam their scary!). A couple of awsesome new weapons. The bee gun replacement is much better. The gun with the lizzard head which eats green balls is great too,and some others(the barnacle thing).The outdoor levels are more aesthetically pleasing than SURFACE TENSION.

For some reason it feels better paced and a little more challenging.I Just love all the levels.Though i still have 2 levels left to go ,but its been great uptil now. Though i do miss the assassins though.(black ops just arent that challenging).My heart jumpeda beat when i entered the portal dome in which freeman is running into the the portal.EPIC moment.

PS: i though the opening level to blushift ....where the lift breaks down was done brilliantly. a great into.

Is it just me or is hl1 and its mods MUCH harder than half-life2? i may be wrong but i dont remember being very challenged by hl2. maybe i havent played it in a long while. But i can swear the AI in hl1 is really good even by todays standards. In one level these soldiers pressed a button and the car lift crushed me!! that was awesome.

i had played hl2 before and it felt like gordon knew everyone.HL1 had close to no story or any connection to hl2. I finally understood why barney mentions the drink/beer in hl2.

All i have to say is that im so miffed & angry at myself for not watching this GEM earlier. ive heard so much about this movie for ages, but never really went out of my way to watch it, and boy im glad i finally did.

Unfortunately I knew the "twist" before i had seen the movie no thanks to my cousin. However, the movie was waaay more impressive and entertaining than i had ever hoped. Even with all the praise, hype and "cult"following the movie seemed to have, i was not let down. Many a times, its easy to build up a movie in your head before you see it ....and usually i get thoroughly disappointed due to its hype.

Its funny how i completely forgot about knowing the movie's "twist" beforehand.......i was completely immersed in the movie. Alot of times I find myself looking at the watch, even for movies that last barely and hour and a half. I was having a bad day and this movie really made my day.

Its just amazing how the movie was able to portray so much, so well in matter of 2hours.Ive already seen the movie twice today and planning to go for a third round this weekend. Its been a really long time since ive been sucked into a movie, with its atmosphere, characters and setting. The last time that happened it was little movie by the name of "THE MATRIX". This movie goes right up there in my favorite movies list along with it .

Edward Norton just got another fan. Ive seen a couple of his other movies but never really understood why he's so loved by people. I do now. Going to be looking up a couple of other good flicks starring this guy. Also need to see some more movies made by the director of this movie. Hopefully his other work is good as well.

As for the girl Marla I must admit I was completely disgusted by her presence in the beginning,but started to grow fond of her by the time the movie ended.

The ending isn't lame, tacked on and doesn't feel forced or manipulative. Its thoroughly satisfying and leaves a great aftertaste. Its wonderful when viewing a movie a second time is like experiencing it in a whole new light(similar "to the sixth sense").I dont really have anything negative to nitpick or complain about the movie.Its just that good.There might be flaws in the movie,but nothing that i experienced or realised.More movies should be like this.

In conclusion, it's a fantastic movie that probably any movie fan would be foolish to miss.Alot of the scenes and dialogues and idealogies/concepts of the movie... are still fresh in my mind.Some of the stuff keeps playing in my head even right now.The narration added alot to the movie.The movie oozed with visual and literal style .On some level i actually found myself drawn towards the principles and idealistic focus of "Project Mayhem", and some of the other practices and ideals Tyler believes in..From start to finish this movie is spot-on.It leaves alot to dwelve upon. Great movie that leaves you with something to think about, way after the movie is over.

PS: First blog post ive ever made. Just needed a place to express my opinion on this movie.

Saw another cult film recently by the name of "Blade Runner". That movie wasn't as good as I had hoped. I probably expected too much of it. Was a bit disappointed considering how many people seem to rave about it.I hate wathching a movie with expectations.I probably would have liked it more had i know nothing about its popularity. I liked alot about the film,but i felt a bit let down.I liked the first half of the movie.i might watch it again sometime .im going to try and read the book to get a better overall perspective on the story.

Went to see Iron Man, which was a breath of fresh air. Downey Jr is great .Brings a lot of charisma and charm to the main character. The last fight sequence was a little underwhelming but the movie overall was well made and executed. Hope the new hulk movie is good too.

Also saw the hitman movie (im a fan of the franchise so I though I'd give it a shot). It was plain appalling. That's saying something considering I had close to zilch expectations for it. The movie practically screams Bgrade Hollywood flick. I find it difficult to believe that the movie's budget was more than 10 million. From the cheesy dialogue to the pathetic action sequence(the sword/dagger fight with the other assassins, anyone??)…the movie nailed it all. hey atleast the girl was hot . There was close to no plot and I really wanted to quit watching it. Ok, if the movies story is bad, I can accept that…..but atleast they could've kept the gritty, bloody violent character of the video games. But no, they had a make agent 47 a softy, who is "cho chweet", and falls for the girl.*face palm*. Agent 47 is nothing like that(except in hitman 2). I think the opening sequence to blood money(when the game is left idle on the menu screen) is a perfect example of what sort of tone the movie should've gone for. The video game plot from the first hitman game(hitman:agent 47) would have made for a much better movie experience.Finding out about the organisation and his "creator" along with the other clones.......would have made for a thrilling and enjoyable movie.*sigh*

any comments are welcome!