Universe At War

Score: 8/10

Genre: Real Time Strategy

Synopses: Not entirely sure as I was unable to play the campaigns. It was broken.

The Good: The Graphics is really good and the units and buildings are very well detailed and animated. Each of the Civilizations play like a whole new game. Each one is totally different in the way they do upgrades, get resources and even move around the stage. The music is epic and suits the mood of the game.

The Bad: The game is a little complex and the descriptions (or Tool Tips) are not like other games. It's long, almost like a user manual which means you waist a lot of time having to read the tool tips. By the time you got your head around what you want to upgrade first, you are already under attack.

It really is a good game, even if you don't play the Scenarios. Well worth the money.

Empire Earth III

Score: 3/10

Genre: Real Time Strategy

Synopses: There isn't one. Just take over the world.

The Good: Each of the Civilizations in this game are completely different in the way they operate and the units they have.

The Bad: Everything else. The Units are poorly created. They are stubby little figures running around the screen. I wouldn't even say Running as they move at a glacial pace. There are so many bugs in this game, it's not even funny. Like Units standing half a screen away from another unit and then attacking it...successfully. The Path finder in the game is busted. The units can't find their way around a map without you baby sitting it.

The entire game is just slow and bulky and totally not worthy of the Empire Earth Franchise. I really don't know what the hell they were thinking when they made this game.

Quantum of Solace

Score: 6/10

Genre: Action

Synopses: After the death of his Girl Friend in Casino Royal, James Bond is on a mission to find her killers. He does this with no regard for his own safety or any other mission that M throws at him. He goes totally rebel and in the process finds the killer and discovers a Water Scheme that will make the killers rich.

The Good: Action. From the first second you are thrown into the action with a car chase and the action doesn't stop for longer than a few minutes. If you like action, this is the movie to see. I didn't think that Daniel would make a good James Bond, but he is surprisingly good at it.

The Cars. What would James Bond be without some fancy cars and boats to drive around in?

The Bad: I did feel a little lost in terms of story. I know why he was doing what he was doing, but we've lost the coolness which is James. There is no Gadgets, or flirting with the ladies. James seems very disconnected from the rest of the world. I get that he's angry, but it is like looking at a whole new person.

This movie isn't as good as the other James Bond movies we've seen so far. But if you need closure on Casino Royal, this should do it.

Max Payne

Genre: Action / Video Game

Score: 3/10

Synopses: Max Payne's family has been murdered and he is looking for the person responsible. In the meantime he finds out that the company he's wife was working for was working on performance enhancers with some serious side effects.

The Good: The Music was intense. I loved it. The CGI on the Demons were really good although you didn't really see so much of them.

The Bad: The Story line is totally questionable. There are so many gaps in the movie that they simply didn't fill. Characters that are in the spotlight, yet you don't know why they are there or what they are doing. I also felt that I was waiting for the movie to start. It just felt a little dragged out.

I just think that this is not a good movie. There really isn't anything more to say. It was just ... crap. I watched an art film at home on SABC that was better than that. I just felt that I left the Cinema feeling that I don't know what I just saw? I was lost, to say the least.

Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Genre: Fantasy / Adventure

Score: 9/10

Synopses: An Elf living in a peaceful village starts his day as normal. Chasing goats into the shed. Some of the children go missing and you are on a mission to find the children. You run into a little alien person who warns you of the impending Twilight darkness that is busy taking over your world. Your new mission is to find who ever is behind this and stop them and save your world.

The Good: The game is really really long. 41 hours worth of game play. And that is when you have a walk through. So it is totally worth the money.

The levels are really well designed with some really cool puzzles to keep you scratching your head for hours at end sometimes. 2 levels are never the same. Every time you walk into a new stage, it's a completely different experience. Not only in looks, but also the enemies you find there, and the puzzles. These different puzzles have different gadgets that you have to use to get through the stages.

That gets me to my next point. Gadgets gadgets gadgets...and more gadgets. When you think you've seen it all, you get a new toy to play with. From Claws that help you get from the floor to the roof or from one side to the other side of the room, to Boomerangs, Bow and Arrow, Massive Swords, Spinners that make you glide over quick sand or that hooks into slots that take you to unreachable areas, Walking bombs...the list is endless. This really adds a lot of fun and flexibly to the game. Oh yeah, you can also turn into a wolf with senses that help you track down enemies.

The Wii Remote also makes this game something new to experience. You need to aim with the remote or swing it around violently to attack your enemies, let's face it, that's just fun.

Graphics...well, taking into account that the game is still running on the older N64 engines, the game actually looks pretty good. Artistically the creatures and the environments are beautiful.

The Bad: Although I mentioned the Graphics under the good part, there is some bad to it as well. It simply does not meet up with the standards of the Next Generation consoles like xBox and Play Station. So in that sense, it's kinda sad.

Music can get a little annoying as well.

Some of the bosses were a little easy to finish off, even so, they were all different and actually a lot of fun to play. Last thing you need is to be struggling for a day with 1 mini boss.

Fantastic game that is a must have for any Wii owner.

WarCraft III

Genre: Strategy

Score: 7/10

Synopses: The game has 4 different Campaigns, but all of them put together makes an intriguing story line. Starting with the Human Campaign you start with the Hero call Arthas who is seeking revenge for the destruction of his lands. He seeks out a sword that gives him ultimate power, but at a cost. He turns evil. This is where the Undead campaign start and your quest to free the ultimate evil. Once that is done, you go on to the Orc campaign and their mission to find Peace. You fight off the Undead and their main minion, after this the Orcs and the Elves Join forces. You then take control of the Elvin people and their quest to save the world from evil. The Elves, Orcs and Humans make a last stand to destroy evil on the very last stage making a last dramatic stand against evil.

The Good: The story line that runs over multiple campaigns was a real winner in my books. It was captivating and kept you glued to your screen. The Graphics was good as well, although a little on the old side. I didn't see any bugs in the game which is also a great thing.

The acting for the campaign was actually also okay. Some other games (like Heroes of Annihilated Empires) just don't do the acting that good. But this one was actually okay for a Strategy game.

Can we all say Upgrades? And what a load there were. Not to much though. Just enough. I like the way that this game and games Like AOE let's you upgrade like weapons and then Armour etc, then when you think you've upgraded it all...poof, more upgrades.

The Units are unique for every Civilization, and the way each Civilization works is also different from each other. For example getting gold. Some have to mine it, other need to pray for it etc. This adds a little bit more to the game and making every Civ feel like you are playing a new game.

The Bad: No WideScreen Support is annoying. But not a total train smash. The Campaigns can get a little difficult and really long. Sometimes you just don't feel like sitting there for 45min to finish 1 stage. Although the graphics were good, I didn't like the Short stubbyness of the units. Maybe that was the look they went for, but I like something a little more realistic.

All and all it actually isn't such a bad game. I can see why people become WarCraft fans.

The 7th Scroll

Author: Wilbur Smith

Genre: Adventure

Score: 8/10

Synopses: Royan's husband was killed while studying the 7th Scroll from Taita (the main character from the River God). The Scroll contains the location of the tombs of not only Tanus, but also the Pharaoh Mamose. Royan had some help from Nicholas, and wealthy Englishman to find the tombs and save what they can. In the process they run into some other explorers with the same idea, causing a lot of trouble for our two explorers.

The Good: It was great to head back into the present after the River God book. It was also great that you did not even need to read the first book to know what's happening in this one. The attention to detail is again unmatched by any other book I've read. Wilbur never seems to let down when describing the surroundings or the characters. This is followed through the entire book.

There is not a lot of actual action, but a lot of suspense leaving you wanting more and more.

The Bad: Sometimes it felt like there was a long time before there was any real progress. Royan's character was a little weak and to dependant on Nicholas for my liking, but I guess that is the Authors decision. The Story had a load of twists and sometimes felt like you were not in the same book anymore as the characters got off the reason for why they are where they are. The book could possible have been shorter and more to the point.