Episode 37: "Deadly Discs"

[trsjeff]

This week, everybody disagrees! The Mist: Unreal or unrealistic? Mass Effect: Fantastic or frustrating? Uncharted: Drake's Fortune: Cinematic or simple? Plus, Rocket Racing and ALL-NEW ATOM #18!

[deegraww]

This week, everybody disagrees! The Mist: Unreal or unrealistic? Mass Effect: Fantastic or frustrating? Uncharted: Drake's Fortune: Cinematic or simple? Plus, Rocket Racing and ALL-NEW ATOM #18!

Sweet! can't wait to watch,.

[drghoo]

I'm already d'loading Jeff. Luckily work is slow right now. Wheeeee!!!

[matteekay]

BEST INTRO EVAH.

Especially for the copious amounts of ParticleIllusion it employed!

[baddox]

I haven't seen The Mist, but I definitely am more ready to side with Dan on it.

[masherscf]

BEST INTRO EVAH.


NO INTRO SPOILERS, PLEASE!

Sorry, I didn't mean to yell. I hate to unleashed my unnatural mod powers on people who insist on spoiling the intro. Guessing the TRS intro is one of the few pleasures I have left that won't kill me... I hope.

[alteredego]

DAN! You are my hero! Thank you for getting everything right in your review of "The Mist". I can't even think of anything else to say about how horrible that movie was! You have totally impressed me in this episode.

[vincent12234]

Awesome, Downloading now, after that gonna watch. :)

[diane]

Why are we not getting the heads up through MySpace any more on the movie? Did I miss something...

[masherscf]

About the intro. I loved it!

I laughed so hard that I cried!

[matteekay]

NO INTRO SPOILERS, PLEASE!

Sorry, I didn't mean to yell. I hate to unleashed my unnatural mod powers on people who insist on spoiling the intro. Guessing the TRS intro is one of the few pleasures I have left that won't kill me... I hope.


Wait a tick. How is this:
BEST INTRO EVAH.

Any different from this:
About the intro. I loved it!
?

Unless you're referring to my Wondertouch comment, which makes even less sense. I might as well have said "Great intro! I love your use of Final Cut Pro!" Howzabout tucking the old internet member back into the internet pants and getting on with your day. That said....

I stand by my BEST INTRO EVAH.

[zombie999]

I agree with a lot of the points that Jeff talked about (save points and driving). Compared to other games of the price range this is a freaking sweet game. I think that this game is for a hardcore sci-fier and gives you 6x the hours of game play than any other 5 star title that came out recently.

Jeff is sometimes biased on the game based upon how he plays it. To expand upon this more, this game is extremely detail oriented if you are a completionist but if you just flow through it you don't get bored. If you are playing this game by searching every planet on the map it is going to be painstakingly boring.

This game does not explain a whole lot by making you do a 30 minute tutorial, but you can read or listen to data-bits about the history. Hopefully this game lives up to it's three part story to explain more of the plot.

This game starts slow and stays very slow except for the combat which at times makes the game-play too hectic for this slow game.

I think this game was hurt by technical problems (video slowdown and texture pop-ins) that couldn't be fixed in time so the makers just slowed everything down.

Maybe Jeff is just a PS fanboy.......?

[mechtronic2001]

wow your show just keeps getting bigger and bigger, im not complaining its just that now i have to wait 10min. to download the show before i watch it, if you can keep it under a gig ill be happy

[hipnotyq]

great show, totally agree with Dan about the Mist, I walked out of the theater wondering how anyone could like it but obviously a LOT of people do (I actually think I'm in the minority here). Yes, I got the concept, I just really hated that movie and wanted to slap every single character.


Maybe Jeff is just a PS fanboy.......?

nah, Jeff praises 360 games and wii games (galaxy) just as much, I really don't think theres any major fanboy bias going on in the show at all

[frankiethewaffle]

OK, I guess I should hit the opening first.

The Natural was a baseball movie and I am thinking this had a LOT of Dan invloved. I have to say that I am not too happy for this opening. I am not too happy about the movie. I really think it is overrated for baseball movies. Although, I recognised it fast I was hoping it would be the final scene/edit of The Sandlot. I know Dan is a fan. I wished that would be it. My biggest fuel for a baseball movie is if I get the same feeling from IT as I get from a visit to the HOF in Cooperstown. The Natural just didn't do it. I know Steve could have edited the same beginning with the correct dialogue, with the pro backround/green screen, and Jeffs' running to the plate. That would have covered the scene nice. Steves' editing of The Natural was true and all. I just don't hold the movie in the same accord.

For movies. I love Shawshank and The Green Mile. Although The Green Mile stands out as coming out just after my Mother died of cancer. I tried to hide it from my father as much as I could. I feared that this movie would be the trilogy drop of the writing and directing team. I will trust Alex and Jeff as a better fan than participant. Dan probably knows more about the faults than I do. I think I'll like it.

Games? well I have another thread in mind for SMG. Both games seemed to disappoint me in final versions. Like Assassins Creed. I love Naughty Dog games. Uncharted just doen't look like it plays right. Even Months ago.

Well I am hungry for other feedback. Good show as always though. Makes for great conversation.

The scavenger hunt segments? Well that just shows me that I couldn't do that well. Nice to see the candid view of your lack of ability to do so.

[eddielee]

I feel bad for always responding with "Awesome episode." So this week I'm posting a longer, more detailed response.

Watching TRS is like wave after wave of joy. First, I see the description and read it. Wow, a review of Mass Effect and the Mist? Great, can't wait! Then, I download the episode... waiting.. alright finally done.

The opening sequence is always hilarious, this week was no different. Great idea to use Wii sports, and have Alex chase Jeff around. Next comes the opening song, three rad dudes with nothing better to do..... TOTALLY RAD SHOW.

The usual analogy of what the Totally Rad Show is, the background shout out, opening banter... and onto the show.

Movies: I have to agree with all 3 of you actually. I definitely enjoyed the Mist, it was creepy-crawly and just plain fun to watch the whole way through. However, the camera work was not my cup of tea.

Rocket Racing: You guys should totally audition for the Amazing Race. You might not win but... hell it'd be funny.

Videogaaames: What?!?! I cannot believe Jeff's review of Mass Effect. I loved, LOVED this game. Excluding the vehicle sections and the length, everything about this game is PERFECT. I have no comments about Drake's Fortune since I don't have a ps3, but Jeff I think you love this game because you look like the protagonist!

Rocket Racing Two: Well at least you tried guys. "I blame Alex's hat!" LOL

E-mail: LMAO at the finger grabbing Dan' ass! The most disappointing game for me is Shenmue 2. The game itself was so ****ing awesome, but the ending was such a let down.

Awesome episode as always, keep up the great work!

[masherscf]

I stand by my BEST INTRO EVAH.


I was just stopping you from saying anymore. The warning wasn't for you. Relax bud.

It was awesome. I cried, I really cried...

I was happy to here Jeff about "Oblivion." I just finished my fifth 30+ hour character. I'm not sure what life is like without Oblivion.

[senoj1]

(spoilers barely)
that music gives me the chills everytime!

[masherscf]

(spoilers barely)
that music gives me the chills everytime!

When I was a kid, I used to FF through the VHS just to get to those scenes.

[laxaloot]

why didnt you guys recapture the scavenger footage so it wouldnt keep clipping?

[dannyt]

Why are we not getting the heads up through MySpace any more on the movie? Did I miss something...

In the LAST episode I mentioned next week we'd be reviewing The Mist....and I also forgot :(

[inland-empress]

Cool. You guys went roaming around my home city San Diego. I love Belboa Park.. they have that Earth Day every year.

[wideawakewesley]

Great show guys, in fact, one of most consistently good episodes to date.

Jeff, Bards Tale, those were the days! Remember those original D&D games too, like Pools Of Radiance etc?

Dan, I went to see Jesse James in the end. Not a film to see when tired. Solid work all round, with some great performances.

Wes

p.s. I'm 99% committed to getting a 360 now, especially as I now know how to guarantee getting a 65nm chipset and they have native DivX support. Oh and they've just announced HD movie downloads for the UK from Dec 11th!

[matteekay]

I was just stopping you from saying anymore. The warning wasn't for you. Relax bud.

Erm... it's an internet post. You do know that it would be impossible to continue once posted, right? With that shiny mod stick you brought up and all?

And being as you quoted me, then said something in direct response to what I said, you could see how I might have mistakenly thought you were addressing me. Bud.

[itsbecca]

Epic news about All New Atom. It's been a book I've been enjoying anyway, but now there's this. Plus I hope it does drive sales. I've had a horrible streak of books I love ending this year.

[diane]

In the LAST episode I mentioned next week we'd be reviewing The Mist....and I also forgot :(

Thank you Dan, I promise I will pay closer attention this week.

[spanca]

Oh Jeff big hugs on your Mass Effect rant! I've been playing through it the last week or two and posting about it on forums with a bunch of other people and I felt like I was the odd one out too. There's so much good in the game (graphics, score etc) but there's so much that just frustrated me. Every point you touched on was something I'd ranted about earlier in the week!

I think the most interesting point is that you played through as a full biotic class (can't remember the name), as did I. Everyone else I've talked to has disagreed with me, yet they've all had at least some element of soldier in their class, whether full or hybrid. The combat system seemed to be Bioware's pride and joy with this game, but at the same time the biggest downfall for anyone that wanted to play through using force powers (lets not kid ourselves, we chose biotic because we wanted to be Jedi in KOTOR again). The game is really badly balanced against those in this class beyond the mere inadequacies in combat, it highlights the game's other faults. Because combat sucks, you notice how much the auto-save system sucks. Because you're replaying bits more often, you choose other dialogue options and notice how they often have the same results.

Finally, the side-quests, as you said, all seemed so shallow and repetitive. Land on planet, enter same layout of bunker, find person then head back to the Normandy.

*sigh* I had such high hopes for this game as it seemed you did too. I've loved every one of Bioware's RPGs and whilst this was a good game, I just can't give it the praise that everyone else seems to be giving it.

[guagloves]

Another very enjoyable episode. The rocket race was freaking awesome.

especially as I now know how to guarantee getting a 65nm chipset

How does one guarantee this? My 360 isn't as quiet as it used to be...

[masherscf]

Erm... it's an internet post. You do know that it would be impossible to continue once posted, right? With that shiny mod stick you brought up and all?

And being as you quoted me, then said something in direct response to what I said, you could see how I might have mistakenly thought you were addressing me. Bud.

Don't be mean, I was only joking. Sorry. :)

It was the caps wasn't it? I knew that was too much...

[trsjeff]

Oh Jeff big hugs on your Mass Effect rant! I've been playing through it the last week or two and posting about it on forums with a bunch of other people and I felt like I was the odd one out too. There's so much good in the game (graphics, score etc) but there's so much that just frustrated me. Every point you touched on was something I'd ranted about earlier in the week!

I think the most interesting point is that you played through as a full biotic class (can't remember the name), as did I. Everyone else I've talked to has disagreed with me, yet they've all had at least some element of soldier in their class, whether full or hybrid. The combat system seemed to be Bioware's pride and joy with this game, but at the same time the biggest downfall for anyone that wanted to play through using force powers (lets not kid ourselves, we chose biotic because we wanted to be Jedi in KOTOR again). The game is really badly balanced against those in this class beyond the mere inadequacies in combat, it highlights the game's other faults. Because combat sucks, you notice how much the auto-save system sucks. Because you're replaying bits more often, you choose other dialogue options and notice how they often have the same results.

Finally, the side-quests, as you said, all seemed so shallow and repetitive. Land on planet, enter same layout of bunker, find person then head back to the Normandy.

*sigh* I had such high hopes for this game as it seemed you did too. I've loved every one of Bioware's RPGs and whilst this was a good game, I just can't give it the praise that everyone else seems to be giving it.

Agreed 100%. This is my big issue. Because I chose a crappy class, I have a crappy play experience? At least with Oblivion I can play how I want and the build skill that I decide I need.

Also, check out this thread for more of my rant.

http://www.revision3.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12344

Again. Good game. NOT great game.

-Jeff

[MaxTheSilent]

Darabont co-wrote ELM STREET 3 with his good friend, director Chuck Russell.

They also did the same for the excellent remake of THE BLOB.

Actually, I watched DREAMWARRIORS not long ago and it really doesn't hold up.

[masherscf]

Again. Good game. NOT great game.

-Jeff

You know. I love "Oblivion." I play it constantly. However, you have to be very careful about how you level up. The game gets harder as you level up and it punishes you for having a weak character.

This pissed be off so much the first time I played that I put the game down for six months. This was after at least ten hours of play. Finally, after reading a bit about the game, I decided to play it again and be more careful. Now, I can't get enough.

But, if it's not fun...why do it.

[mormonrage]

I'm surprised Dan was into the romance subplots in Mass Effect. I thought they were so awful I wasn't just embarrassed for myself, I was embarrassed for whoever wrote that sub-Harlequin romance dreck. I ask the blue chick about her mom a couple times and suddenly we're doing the no-pants dance? Totally insipid.

On the other hand, Uncharted is the most joyful gaming experience I've had all year. I grinned and giggled and laughed the whole freaking game. Dan is absolutely right about the story and acting. I've never seen a game that had characters with chemistry like Drake and Elena in this game. It was remarkable. This is the game to beat for game of the year, IMO.

And can we please, for the sweet, platonic love of Christ, get beyond the knee-jerk, "there's nothing to play on the PS3" nonsense? That era is over and has been for some time. Just this fall, there's Warhawk, Heavenly Sword, CoD 4, Assassin's Creed, Ratchet and Clank, Uncharted, Eye of Judgment, Folklore, Rock Band, Guitar Hero, and on and on. Let's get over it.

[dannyt]

I'm surprised Dan was into the romance subplots in Mass Effect. I thought they were so awful I wasn't just embarrassed for myself, I was embarrassed for whoever wrote that sub-Harlequin romance dreck. I ask the blue chick about her mom a couple times and suddenly we're doing the no-pants dance? Totally insipid.

On the other hand, Uncharted is the most joyful gaming experience I've had all year. I grinned and giggled and laughed the whole freaking game. Dan is absolutely right about the story and acting. I've never seen a game that had characters with chemistry like Drake and Elena in this game. It was remarkable. This is the game to beat for game of the year, IMO.

And can we please, for the sweet, platonic love of Christ, get beyond the knee-jerk, "there's nothing to play on the PS3" nonsense? That era is over and has been for some time. Just this fall, there's Warhawk, Heavenly Sword, CoD 4, Assassin's Creed, Ratchet and Clank, Uncharted, Eye of Judgment, Folklore, Rock Band, Guitar Hero, and on and on. Let's get over it.

The thing is, with the love story in mass effect, you're very right to be shocked I liked it, especially in spite of Drakes-- but there was just something to being able to AFFECT it, to EARN it rather than watch it, and I don't play a lot of RPG's, and the writing was bad for a movie, but not for a video game, ya know so...that's what got me...

[mltvcocktail]

And let me just wipe off the excess h8raid, there we go. j/k, I read the description and I loved trying to figure out who the odd one out was on each review. The rocket race thing looked like so much fun, better luck next year guys. On to the most hotly debated thing about this week's episode, Mass Effect. Watching the 1up show and listening to 1up Yours I got the impression that most everyone played as a Vanguard which I think is the full soldier class (correct me if I'm wrong) so I'm guessing the class affects your game to an extreme degree. Also I've heard you can't treat this as a full on shooter even though it appears to be. Finally, I've heard the story and conversations are amazing.

[captds9e]

I agree with Alex and Dan that Mass Effect is a awesome game. It does have some things that should have been fixed. The inventory system needs an overhaul, and the frame rate needs some fixing. However everything else I loved. I played as a Vanguard who is a mix of Solider/Biotic.

I really think the one class you picked Jeff is the worst class of them all. I know people who have finished the game as that class, replayed as another and Liked the game a TON more. One of my favorite games of the year

Getting Uncharted for the holidays, looking forward to playing it

[skeptikal]

I'm downloading the show now...can't wait to see it....really makes my Tuesdays every week....its reeeeally slow tho...204KBs....i usually get 950KBs or so :/ I guess Alex's appearance on AOTS today is killing the BW. I'm glad for you guys tho if there are more people coming around to the show. Hah...my first post on this forum and here I am half-complaining....imagine that...

[hipnotyq]

p.s. I'm 99% committed to getting a 360 now, especially as I now know how to guarantee getting a 65nm chipset and they have native DivX support. Oh and they've just announced HD movie downloads for the UK from Dec 11th!

such a pisser that Canada still doesn't get them :(

[cashoutcurse]

Yep, I saw The Mist too. What a MISTake. Couldn't agree more with Dan on his review. Funny how after all this time of watching TRS I can finally start to see who's movie/tv show reviews are most like mine and can use them to save me some money & time!

[mormonrage]

I played as the Engineer class because, well, no one else on my friends list had (and I have a predilection for the healing class in any RPG). I thought the game was a breeze, as long as I paired with Liara and Ashley. That way I had one full-on combat squadmate, one full-on biotic squadmate, and I was full-on tech. I only had to replay one battle--and it was because I screwed up in a pretty major way.

[trsjeff]

I really think the one class you picked Jeff is the worst class of them all. I know people who have finished the game as that class, replayed as another and Liked the game a TON more.

A few hours into the game I suspected this was the case, but I'm not going to let the game off the hook for this. 3 classes are fun and 2 are utter crap? That's game of the year material?

-Jeff

[cashoutcurse]

Can't remember. Has Alex ever given a PS3 exclusive title a good review?

[patch]

A few hours into the game I suspected this was the case, but I'm not going to let the game off the hook for this. 3 classes are fun and 2 are utter crap? That's game of the year material?

-Jeff

I played through the game as a Sentinal and only died about 10 times at most. I actually felt the game was too easy as a Sentinal. I can walk into a room and clear it without baddies getting a shot off because I'm such a power house now.

I played on Normal the first time through and am going back through on Hardcore. The same is holding true for my awesomeness. I really don't understand how you could have had such a hard time with this.

[gojira]

Nobody else has a most disappointing game? I loved that question. And my answer popped right into my head. Yoshi's Story. Yoshi's Island is one of my very favorite games of all time. It's my favorite 2d Mario game and my favorite 2d platformer. So I was uber hyped for the sequel. It looked really cool with the whole '2.5d' thing that was popular in the mid 90's. But the gameplay was really dumbed down for kids. And the game lost all of the fun of the original. Luckily I only rented the game.

Yoshi's Story has been released on the Wii VC. So I decided to buy it to see if I was just really harsh on the game back then. Plus I think it is a game my girlfriend would enjoy playing. It still looks really good, but the gameplay just isn't there.

[kyleh]

i fricken loved the mist! i dunno wat dan is talking about... Amazing!

p.s. the lil race u guys did was amazing, loved it

[MaxTheSilent]

THE MIST is utter genius, although the much-vaunted ending was a bit too over-wrought for my liking.

One question: does Dan like Carpenter's THE THING? Because in my mind THE MIST will, in years to come, be regarded as highly as that particular masterpiece.

[d3isme]

Great show guys!

I love the intros, you have such fun getting the lines and shots and making them your own (Alex could do an opening with it - here at TRS we take all good movie quotes, mash them all together .... :-)

I'm sure you've seen the trailers for the Mos Def/Jack Black film coming up. It made me think of your intros - because of the heart that's there!
(After that I hope the film doesn't tank!).

The race was so cool. I would love to do something like that.
Good on you for keeping going - and the Time Warp ... can't believe no one else has commented on your rad rendition of that. Did you have it down already? Or did you practice up (guessing from the name of the theme that you'd be quizzed on it)?

I have to go back and make sure I didn't miss anything right at the end. For the first time I stopped watching before the credits. Because the baby tees were in!!! Order has been placed.

Thanks again for a terrific show.

[zombi]

A few hours into the game I suspected this was the case, but I'm not going to let the game off the hook for this. 3 classes are fun and 2 are utter crap? That's game of the year material?

-Jeff

Yep yep, I started my first character as a vanguard. During the battle on Novera I just kept dieing and dieing, over and over and after you watch a cutscene for the 20th time you get pretty frustrated, so I started a new character as a soldier. Much better. Beat the game with the soldier character, once I changed classes the combat felt that much more solid and I finally was able to progress through the game without wanting to throw my controller against a wall. The dissapointment for me really comes from the wasted potential, it could have been so much more and for some, reletively, easy to correct problems to ruin an experience is just a shame. Jeff, Im so glad you pointed out the save system, because that to me showed a complete disregard of recent gaming innovations. Youre constantly removed from the experience in order to dig through menus to get to information you should have easily availible. The save system nearly killed it for me though.

Youre totally right about uncharted, best looking console game. It was the first game in a while to feel fresh and new. this wasnt retreading familiar water, or at least it didnt feel like it. It was a complete experience and solid one at that. Oh and the writing, amazing, it just brought you into that world and made you want to spend time with those characters so well. Good episode, Im glad everybody disagreed a bit, made for some great conversation.

[gm_wil]

gotta hit teh sack but needed to add a "great show" before passing out...

damn that opening was funny.....

-

[siraim]

If you're playing through Mass Effect and you're finding yourself not spending any money, you're doing it wrong. :) I ended up scouring all of the vendors I could find to buy the licenses so that my Normandy requisition officer could gather all of the cool items.. that was until I was able to buy Spectre items from my friend on the Normandy.. Oohh.. the Spectre pistol. mmm. :)

.. and awesome show.. I stayed up far too late watching it tonight and will pay for it in the morning when I have to get up early for breakfast with a colleague. Dang you to heck TRS guys! =P

[roni]

Great show as always - I especially loved the bit at the end where Dan was so focused on his hand that he forgot to say his name.

[wideawakewesley]

Another very enjoyable episode. The rocket race was freaking awesome.

How does one guarantee this? My 360 isn't as quiet as it used to be...

If it has a 175w PSU (listed on the box), it's a falcon (65nm) chipset. Apparently they've recently downgraded the PSU for all 65nm chipsets.

Most disappointing game ever...Black & White (or almost any Molyneaux title)

Wes

[mittop]

Can't remember. Has Alex ever given a PS3 exclusive title a good review?

Warhawk. I think.

[p2a1x7]

Awesome episode. I think I like it better when you guys disagree :) Also the race was entertaining

[masherscf]

A few hours into the game I suspected this was the case, but I'm not going to let the game off the hook for this. 3 classes are fun and 2 are utter crap? That's game of the year material?

-Jeff

That's funny. Whenever, I play a new RPG with a class structure. I always play the "Mage" classes last because they're usually the weakest. I'm not surprised that so many gamers and reviewers are willing to look the other way on this appartent game-play imbalance.

I hate to keep comparing "Mass Effect" to "Oblivian" or KOTOR where the character archtypes were better balanced.

[kevincollateral]

THANK YOU THANK YOU DAN! i will go by all your reviews from now on. i couldn't have said it better about the mist.

i cant understand how jeff and alex, and most of the masses like this movie!

and as always great great show this week.

[guagloves]

Is this the comic you guys were talking about?

http://i6.ebayimg.com/01/i/000/c9/ca/72a2_1_b.JPG

[reoze]

Here's the thing, is with mass effect there are the "starting classes" soldier vanguard etc. But even on the highest difficulty after beating the game twice I can walk through the game with a soldier. What they should have done, and they didn't was put more of an "advanced" tag next to the caster and engineer classes. The classes themselves are not terrible but you need to micromanage your squad and their abilities much more than you do as a soldier or a vanguard where you can walk through the game throwing people in the air and shooting them once with a pistol.

[maxman14]

A few hours into the game I suspected this was the case, but I'm not going to let the game off the hook for this. 3 classes are fun and 2 are utter crap? That's game of the year material?

-Jeff

i dont know i played a soldier and i got through pretty easily, but not too easily.
so i had tons of fun with the story. i didnt really care much about how the speech tree for the major story points were the same.*shrugs*

[alexc]

What I found was that the micromanaging of my squad mates was a real pain and making the fights difficult. Then I found the option (on the frigging game options menu for some dumb reason) that sets the squad to active instead of defense only, which made things much better. Just one of the many, many, many UI deficiencies in that game.

Also, damn! The TRS crew was five minutes from my house last weekend and I didn't know? Crud.

[mrpopular]

Awesome show. (I don't recall the intro) The show was as epic as always and i'm sad i now have to wait an entire week to see another show

[Torx]

Great show as usual..

Those two guys that created the rocket race should branch out over the united states, i would love to join in on a race here in my city.

the heated debate between alex and jeff over mass effect and uncharted was nail biting..

[tnvwboy]

Freakin' Great Intro!

I really loved that there was such disagreement. I'm not saying there should be Mortal Kombat fights each week, but it adds some great interaction.

Jeff, I really appreciate your passion on your reviews, agree or not. I'm really surprised how at the hostility for the review. It IS just an opinion after all. I pretty much think UT3 is crap but a lot of others like it. So what? Is there something wrong with having an opinion that differs from others?

[siraim]

...I'm not saying there should be Mortal Kombat fights each week, but it adds some great interaction...


I agree.. Jeffs face when Dan said he hated The Mist was priceless. It looked like someone just killed his puppy.

[jinstarwing]

Great show guys I am still suprized that Jeff was so disappointed with Mass Effect maybe the game is not the greatest game ever but the amount of potential that we are being shown while playing it worth it. We can see how much the gaming industry is evolving and maybe they will come out with a sequel to the game that fixes these bugs but the game itself is really innovative and there is a LOT of potential for a sequel

[elluin]

Really great show, as so many a times :)

I really enjoyed the discussions and it actually make me really curious. It gets me into exploring the things you guys mention.
As I don't have any kind of console or decent gaming pc or any other gaming device (whèèè, I'm really sad about this, seriously) I am bound to explore the movies only. But at least I still have that.
I get the differences in the comments. It's a lot to do with style and personal likings. So I'm definitely going to check it out and see how I 'perceive' this film. Sorry for the fancy word, but I love those :p

Keep up the good work guys! I'm really looking forward in seeing the next episode(s).

- E

[irishpunk]

The Rocket Race looks really fun. Wonder if they have anything like that in Massachusetts hmmm...
On a side note I now have the Time Warp stuck in my head:D

[thementalteen]

At times, I wished I was there in the discussions, but in this episode, I wanted to be in the whole thing with all the arguing.

I thought The Mist had its ups and downs, but I enjoyed it mostly. The thing I hated though was the ending, but in a good way. Such a twist that made my legs weak. I guess that's Stephen King for ya!

I was considering getting both Uncharted and Mass Effect after seeing this episode. On the ME part, I've never played KotOR or any serious RPG game, so it'll be completely new for me. For Uncharted, I'll consider that over ME if I had to choose one. I always loved Indiana Jones, and with a game that's like the movie, I know I'll enjoy that too.

The rocket race reminded me of the Amazing Race. At least you guys made it to the end, and better luck next time!

[bananaboat]

Jeff has been taking a ton of crap for his opinion of Mass Effect, and while it also pains me to say it, I was also massively dissapointed with Mass Effect. I did a gigantic run down of why I was dissapointed in last weeks show comments thread, so I'm not going to do it again, but I'm glad that atleast one other person agrees with me in this 9-9.5/10 review score world we're living in. Keep it up Jeff, even if people going nuts when you don't like the same things as them :D

Actually, on second thought, here I go again


" I know this should probably be saved for next week, but I can't. On page 3 (I think) MormonRage mentioned ambivalence towards Mass Effect (after finishing it). I feel the same way (the rest of this paragraph might contain Mass Effect spoilers. Don't read further if you care). After finishing Mass Effect, I was left with a sense that I had just played Kotor, but without the fun planets to visit, or the Star Wars licensing to make it cool. I definitely love how it's more of an FPS and not turn based anymore (like Kotor was), but the FPS element to the game makes the technical glitches almost unbearable. For instance, after a cut scene with a guy I was going to have to fight, I was often dropped out of the cut scene faced the wrong way, only to take a ton of damage trying to correct the problem (in hard mode. They shoot almost instantly). Ontop of that, the framerate didn't stay steady for a minute at a time during any outdoor mission, or any indoor mission with too many enemies on screen at once. Staying with the technical side, the lips don't match the voice acting very often (understandable for characters like Shepard where you can change the look of the face/mouth, but not for characters that were set) textures pop in and out at random (character will go from next gen to last gen as you watch, with all of the nicely detailed textures dissapearing) and not just in one or two spots, but throughout the ENTIRE game, even during cut scenes (which is freaking inexcusable). Now to speak of the gameplay. Where Kotor had worlds that felt populated and fleshed out, Mass Effect has very linear places to go (go back and look at the Citadal. It may seem big, but it's not, and they even give you a warp system). Maybe the Star Wars license helped the "Other Planets" (The less-than-populated ones) feel fun in Kotor, because any place other than the Citadel felt completely dead. In a world where we have a game like Oblivion (which has it's flaws too, but that's for another time) where characters actually have lives whether or not you are looking at them (and homes...let's not forget about homes) Mass Effect has characters that stand around and do nothing, that are there 24/7, that are pretty much lifeless husks there for the hell of it. The citadel is so clinical that even when you go in the strip club (Chora's Den) it seems as if it's just as lifeless as the main level (the presidium) of the Citadel (which...should be lively. It's really not). On top of that, you will earn money in Mass Effect that you don't need to spend (you get all the gear for free as you play. I'm at over a million credits with the best equipment in the game) and there are no special weapons or armor that you can earn (atleast not at level 50 or whatever I ended up at). I could go on and on, but I think Mass Effect is another one of those games that needed to go back into the oven for a few months (maybe 6?) to bake and get better. The technical glitches make Mass Effect seem like a Beta, and that makes me sad after having spent 70 dollars on the game (and 13 hours to complete the main story + a healthy helping of side quests, none of which were fun). Maybe I've missed the point of the game somehow, and really I need to replay it as a new type of character and see if I like it better (some people love to play the same game over and over as different types of character. Not me so much) but for me, Mass Effect comes nowhere close to Kotor, or Oblivion (especially Oblivion) when it comes to the pure amount of things there are to do in the world. That's the test for RPG's (atleast I think) and Mass Effect fails miserably.

One more thing, and I promise this is it, and I doubt anyone has read this far anyway, but I have to comment on it. The elevators...in Mass Effect...what IDIOT decided those wouldn't be skippable, and that I'd have to sit through 10 minutes (total) of elevator ride EVERY time I played the game (Getting to the ship in the citadel is 1 mass transit, 1 long elevator, then a lonnnnnng stint in the decontamination chamber, then an elevator inside the damn ship to get to the lower levels...Arghhhh). I'm very, very interested to see what others thought of Mass Effect, because from where I sit, it's a technical dissapointment, it's a graphical dissapointment, and an all around dissapointment."

[nextgenxbox]

Funny as always guys. Keep it up. The san diego segment was great. You guys should have more "TRS Hangs out" segments.

[enitaplap]

*** Opening Sequence Spoiler ***

This episode has my vote for the best intro thus far. Great implementation of The Natural while making it completely original and AWESOME!!! Great idea guys. Simply amazing and hilarious! What does everyone else think?:eek:

[nobodysleeps]

Mass Effect is much better when played as a female. The Kaiden/Shepard relationship was much more engaging than with Ashley or LIara. It's almost a damn shame.

It's so odd. I found all the side quests to be really fun, and I tried to do them all..minus the stupid MAKO trekking around planets and getting freaking stuck in valleys. I found the side quests to be really entertaining.

It's probably difficult to imagine Shepard to be anyone besides the first person you made him/her look like, but I really think Jennifer Hale as Shepard is a much better VO than whoever played male shepard.

Anyway..yeah...I really wish you would talk about spoilers. After the review I'm much more interested in what you have to say about specific things. Maybe the podcast format which makes it feel more personal makes me think that we can just have a chat about these games, and that's the kind of personal talk I think i've come to expect. But yeah. There definitely should be like... .5 episodes where you guys talk about spoilers, cause that is where I'd see what you really think. Anyway...yeah...I want to talk to the guys about specific stuff in the game! URGHH

--yeah my wife's soul was broken when she found out Jeff didn't like it. She really loved it and hoped Jeff would too. =P

[royterp]

*** Opening Sequence Spoiler ***

This episode has my vote for the best intro thus far. Great implementation of The Natural while making it completely original and AWESOME!!! Great idea guys. Simply amazing and hilarious! What does everyone else think?:eek:

The genius of their openings is that they take a reasonably well-known and occasionally iconic scene or sequence and change it just enough to make it their own while preserving the original's essence*. And I agree that, on this point anyway, this one was the most well done of them all so far. But "Full House" still gets my vote for personal fave. :)

-Roy

*This also plants them firmly on the "parody" side of Fair Use, which is probably handy from a legal perspective. ;)

[cammyknoxville]

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y241/IguannaDude/totallyrad.jpg

[isoprophlex]

just started watching and had to say it too... awesomely clever intro...

[mitreos]

Awesome show - thank you for responding to viewer feedback and increasing the show length with your pure unadulterated radiosity. If I may agree with one of the comments posted earlier - to me the best shows are when there is discord and differing points of view have to be explained. In effect, the discussion leaves us as as viewers with a more informed or meta-view that few review shows on the intertubes have honed in on. Thank you for the hard work that you four lads put into this show every week, but most importantly, thank you for introducing my wife and I to the utter storytelling perfection that is Avatar. You fellas have earned the success that this show has and will become.

[moneytime]

agreed. I like to see a little conflict. I also like to see Jeffs satisfaction when the other two agree with him on a review, though.
Oh yeah, I saw the mist and LOVED it. One more for that team.
Great show again. I've watched all of the episodes, but am new to the forums. There is some real entertaining stuff to read in here.

[trsjeff]

agreed. I like to see a little conflict. I also like to see Jeffs satisfaction when the other two agree with him on a review, though.
Oh yeah, I saw the mist and LOVED it. One more for that team.
Great show again. I've watched all of the episodes, but am new to the forums. There is some real entertaining stuff to read in here.

Welcome to the forums!

-Jeff

[masherscf]

agreed. I like to see a little conflict. I also like to see Jeffs satisfaction when the other two agree with him on a review, though.
Oh yeah, I saw the mist and LOVED it. One more for that team.
Great show again. I've watched all of the episodes, but am new to the forums. There is some real entertaining stuff to read in here.

You make a good point about the dramatic tension. However, I've learned to sit-up when they all agree on something. Between "Star Dust", "Avatar", and some others, they've called quite a few home-runs.

[riverron]

I have mixed feelings about The Mist

Good things

-Good tension throughout the whole movie. Playing on the fear of the unknown
-Pretty good character development
-The ending. I'm not saying I liked it but it was definitely ironic
Bad Things

-Acting was horrible. All the lines seemed forced and fake. Especially the little kid crying.

-Camera work was disgusting. I mean did they really use the zoom button instead on panning in? Are you serious?

-This is a really good B movie. I guess thats a bad thing....

All in all I have to lean a little more with Dan on this one. The movie deserves the ratings it got.

I give it a 3/5 and a go see this at a matinee.

[imagineer99]

I can't believe you guys talked/debated about the mist without a discussion about the ending--that one thing that has divided people from all over.

I liked the movie. It felt like a good episode of the Twilight Zone. It has it's cheesy/eye-rolling moments, but for the most part it kept me engaged throughout.

[darknessgp]

I can't believe you guys talked/debated about the mist without a discussion about the ending--that one thing that has divided people from all over.

I liked the movie. It felt like a good episode of the Twilight Zone. It has it's cheesy/eye-rolling moments, but for the most part it kept me engaged throughout.

I think they did that to avoid giving away spoilers. I'm glad they try to keep their reviews spoiler free.

[digitalfirefly]

Great episode, loved the intro. Nice Phillies hat Jeff, are you a fan or from the area?

As for the Mist, I read the book a few months back and saw the movie yesterday. I really enjoyed it. Aside from the last 5 minutes it was almost identical to the book. I wasn't really scared at all (except the pharmacy scene), probably because I knew everything that was going to happen. I don't know if you guys know this, but the Mist was an inspiration for the game Half-Life. I'm sure those that have seen it can figure out how.

As for Mass Effect. I loved the game. Probably because I'm such a big Sci-Fi fan and it's been a while since I played a good story driven Sci-Fi game (Half-Life 2). While I was playing it the game was 10. After I beat it and looking back and remembering all of the things that made the game less than perfect (the driving, texture pop-in, inventory system, bad party AI, Shepard's voice acting). I was also disappointed with dialog system. At times I'd pick a response and his words didn't really reflect the option that I picked. The second time through the game I tried picking some different dialog options and got the same dialog. It was far from perfect, but it was a great, enjoyable game though.

[heyseuss]

Great episode, loved the intro. Nice Phillies hat Jeff, are you a fan or from the area?


He's from Philly.

[dannyt]

Nope, he's not. I am ;)

[matteekay]

Yay! Pat's and Geno's for all! Let's go hang out on South Street and get $1 slices of enormous pizza!

[dannyt]

awwww, I miss "wiz with" and lorenzos :(

[digitalfirefly]

awwww, I miss "wiz with" and lorenzos :(

That settles it, you'll have to do a show in Philly.

and that's "Wiz wit" :)

[-mk-]

Travesty: this was the first episode of TRS I've seen. Life has been crazy this year (been taking sort of an Internet hiatus) and I never got the chance to get into it, but DAMN I'm glad I did. Fun production, good reviews, great show guys!

I haven't seen Mist or played Mass Effect (it's on the Xmas list), so I don't have much to add to the conversation already going. I really liked the viewer's question about most disappointing games of all time though. Considering these things cost so much to make and purchase, nothing chaps like a "letdown game."

My biggest letdown games:

Fable (XBox) - the concept had me drooling, but in 10 hours the game was over and I didn't feel like I decided anything with my gameplay other than making people swoon or run away. Bummer.

Shenmue II (Xbox) - oh my GOD how did they screw this up so badly? The first Shenmue was GOLD I tell you, but instead of improving on that game's few flaws they went the other way. Crappy voice acting, TOO MUCH like real life...if I have to hear that one line about "Lucky Hit" again in my lifetime I'm going to scream.

and for my all-time disappointing game...

(steps onto the soapbox)

Shadowrun (XBox 360) - this is where Internet communication is really going to hamper your ability to understand just how sad this game made me. I really need nonverbals here - mere words cannot do my disappointment justice. Comparatively speaking, it makes Jeff's Mass Effect letdown moment look as if he was singing "If You're Happy and You Know It."

It all goes back to 1989, when my best bud (Nick - doesn't matter) picked up FASA Corporation's first-ever Shadowrun pen & paper RPG and brought it over to the house. We were both introduced to the cyberpunk genre (and hooked), and we had a blast playing for MONTHS on end. Then Nick & I were forced to part ways a few years later when I moved and Shadowrun went away from my life...but only until 1994 when I found it in video game form (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadowrun_%28Sega%29) on the Sega Genesis - and it was freaking AWESOME!

After playing it out, Shadowrun disappeared from my life for 13 years until FASA Interactive announced they were making an Xbox 360 version of their world. Holy. F-ing. Crap. My mind was dizzy at the possibilities as I imagined something like Oblivion, Grand Theft Auto, and the pen & paper Shadowrun universe running really hard into each other. Instead, what I got was a piece of crap "shooter only" title (apparently Xbox needed another one) with some magic. They effectively tossed out 99% of what made Shadowrun "Shadowrun" and still called it Shadowrun. Where the hell do these morons get off doing something like this? It was a huge virtual kick in my nuts - something I will never forgive FASA Interactive for. They did so much more than screw the pooch on this one, and it's an injustice.

Once again, great show - looking forward to the next one!

[digitalfirefly]

Fable (XBox) - the concept had me drooling, but in 10 hours the game was over and I didn't feel like I decided anything with my gameplay other than making people swoon or run away. Bummer.


Aside from the hype machine that is Peter Molyneux, I really enjoyed the game. Sure it wasn't an open ended world like Oblivion, but it was still an enjoyable game. I hope Fable 2 ditches the "corridors" and switches to a big open world like Oblivion.

[geekluv]

I've been super busy and missed the last 2 TRS episodes (a travesty, I know) so I just caught up today thanks to my trusty ipod. I haven't played Mass Effect yet, and all I can say is Jeff, I hope you're wrong sir! That is the game I've most anticipated this year and if it's that disappointing I think I might cry. *sigh* I still love ya though ;)

Shenmue II (Xbox)[/COLOR] - oh my GOD how did they screw this up so badly? The first Shenmue was GOLD I tell you, but instead of improving on that game's few flaws they went the other way. Crappy voice acting, TOO MUCH like real life...if I have to hear that one line about "Lucky Hit" again in my lifetime I'm going to scream.


OMG yes MK, I totally agree. Very sad what they did to that game.

[r0cky]

Sorry to dredge up an old thread, but I just watched The Mist, not expecting to enjoy it at all because my recollection was that the guys slated it.

All the way through I'm thinking, I shouldn't be enjoying this, but I am!

So today I watched the TRS review again, and actually it was only Dan that didn't like it. Dan is so knowledgeable about movies, he's one of the reasons I always tune in, but I have to disagree with his summary of The Mist, and I actually feel a little bit sorry for anyone who couldn't just sit back and enjoy the movie - because it actually was enjoyable.

It's funny how some weeks I'll agree with one of the guys, only to find myself at odds with their movie opinion another week.

Maybe that's part of the fun of TRS.

Anyway, The Mist is a good movie, if you let Dan put you off watching it, listen to the other two guys, and go get this film.