After being displayed as a beautiful and ultimately controversial computer generated trailer at E3 2005 in the eyes of developer Guerrilla Games, Killzone 2 gave any true gamer the impression that it had the potential to be one of the best first person shooters on any console ever, even if most thought just in the graphical department alone. Unfortunately, after seeing the trailer, there were no ‘true gamers’ left. Everyone thought it was impossible. Blasphemy! Sony Computer Entertainment of America should be put to the guillotine for challenging the contemporary standards and expected standards of 2005! After spending weeks in the excoriating presence of Helghan, there is no doubt to be had. Heart pounding gameplay combined with an intense storyline and eye-widening graphics make for an insuperable experience in any war combat on any console. Killzone 2 has arrived, and with it a studious first person shooter.

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Imagination runs wild in Coraline Jones (Dakota Fanning), a bright and cute girl that effortlessly tries to create a universe in which all her fears and wishes are best expressed. Based fully on Neil Gaman’s incredible fantasy-filled journey and place on the frame of those who love dreaminess artistry in the Nightmare Before Christmas filmmaker Henry Selick, and you are left with Coraline. By allowing us into her world, Coraline makes ‘Coraline’ a thrilling stop-motion animated adventure which shines as a high point in Selick’s career of creating handcrafted wonderlands of beauty blended with multiple layers of genius.

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Everyone has waited nearly an entire decade for a new Street Fighter game and when Street Fighter IV was announced, hearts began pounding. A new Street Fighter game with favorite classic characters Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, and newer characters Crimson Viper, Abel and more all beautifully seamed into a stylized 3D architecture of pure wistfulness came as a delightful surprise this generation. Street Fighter IV couples the honored art of martial arts with spectacularly refined combat this generation to produce a title that is simply one that will prove insanely difficult to overcome for the WhatIfGaming Game of the Year 2009: Best Fighting Game award. There are a few lame cinematics in the arcade mode and a few tiny problems, but none that bruise too bad for hardcore fighting gamers. Fans and newcomers alike to the fighting genre will bask in the munificence of a re-imagined Street Fighter beyond the wildest of imagination.

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After playing a bit of the first F.E.A.R. you would have to forgive me for not having the highest of expectations for Alma and her evil wrath in F.E.A.R. 2. Sure F.E.A.R. 1 gameplay was solid but the environments were bland and the game started to feel extremely repetitive after a while. So what have Monolith Productions  changed for Project Origin? Not enough. Basically, not much to matter to be honest. The game is simply not more improved than the previous title, but it’s still a good scare from time to time.

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Afro Samurai is a great ninja game, but essentially one with problems ranging from missing storyline to unbelievable characters. In Afro Samurai, important characters are briefly introduced then rehashed into the sub-plot. The reason we call it a sub-plot is that it’s the only thing happening in Afro Samurai. You meet people, you do missions, and essentially slice up bad guys for no clear reason. It’s a bit disheartening to see a title with such a cool box art, and amazing visuals take such a bad plunge into another game with absolutely no bound of sunscald vision. Some levels take place in Afro Samurai’s past, but it’s hard to tell. Ever watch LOST? It’s like the cutscenes back to the island minus the context.

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We quickly mugged 2K Boston’s Ken Levine for a Q&A recently after an exclusive NYCC meet. He had much to say about the new anticipated title BioShock 2, which he is also helping to work on.  Okay, so maybe not the game itself but it’s worth the read.

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New Line Cinema has just recently put out a film about the woes and confusing uncertainty that love presents in a tightly packed romantic comedy including big names like Ben Affleck, Drew Barrymore, Jennifer and Kevin Connolly, and Ginnifer Goodwin as a personified desperate love seeker Gigi.  The film bases out of the premise that true love is often hard to come by and is usually split amongst two types of people in a relationship relative to the woman: the exception and the rule. Gigi is typically described as the stupid albeit daring woman that follows the path of love wherever it takes her, even if it is to a guy that doesn’t care. She’s the rule according to her run in with Justin Long’s character Adam, a friend of the date that blew Gigi off and explains her the overall deal with guys and how they perceive things. If a guy cares, he calls and he “makes something happen,” if not he’s just not that into you.

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Two Lovers captures the very essence of what raw and vulnerable performance has long been seeking. It’s very conspicuous at first view that Two Lovers is undeniably a film that captures the emotions of love and the susceptibility of falling back to your emotions. James Gray (“We Own the Night”), has led the star cast of Gwenth Paltrow, Vinessa Shaw, and Joaquin Phoenix to all perform more than admirably in the production value of a film that on paper does not seem so remarkable, but on the screen is simply exhilarating.

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Fire. Fire! We’ll be looking into fire! Literally: in the form of kettle cooked potato chips dabbed in Blair Lazar’s concoction of an intense brush of spices on top. We are doing this review not just in honor for those hardware people in our audience who sit in front of their PC chowing down while looking at DDR3 Coral RAM, but also for those people who sit in gaming lands for hours or are too busy with Blu-ray movie-vision and action. We all need a snack every once in a while. These chips and anything ‘Blair Lazar’ are a must have.

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Skate 2 is finally here, and it’s putting the heat on the original Skate, known so much for the incredible depth of the skate scene. Skate 2 supplants realism from the greatest grind, to the best vert flip. Skate 2 takes elements such as the ‘camera-guy’ approach for short tutorials to aid newcomers, and is a great and powerful new and exciting entry into the genre and the New San Vanelona.

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Israeli filmmaker Ari Folman has managed to combine the deciduous canvases of the extraordinary and painful in the autobiographical documentary of his life and the adventure of self-realization through the past with Vals Im Bashir / Waltz with Bashir. Most films come with a sad factor of divagation in the main storyline to make something appear to be of certain strength, asserting itself through the plot of the entire picture. The beauty in Waltz with Bashir is an unmatched and epicurean revival into the tragedies of the Lebanon War.

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